


The Alpha's Mage: Revolution - Season Three

by Keitmeg



Series: The Alpha's Mage [3]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Humor, M/M, Pack Bonding, Plot Twists
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-01
Updated: 2019-06-26
Packaged: 2019-11-07 15:27:23
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 87,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17963159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Keitmeg/pseuds/Keitmeg
Summary: "It was an animal attack."





	1. Premier

**Star Guest:**

Shachi as Sasha

 

 

 

 

 

 

Around half past eleven, a black Mercedes’ tires roll into the entrance, crunching the gravel in their stealth. With it comes a slight headache. Wow, of all the people he could have sent, Zoro sent a werewolf?

Sanji has changed into a baggy white tunic and skinny jeans –the ones that stretch around the waist as his pregnant belly grows. And he has been sitting on the swinging bench all this time, waiting with nervous excitement oozing out of his brain.

A tall, hollow-cheeked and pale redhead in a black suit exits the classic vehicle and greets Sanji with an air of slight haughtiness about him, at which Sanji only gawks. He rounds the trunk of the car to open the door of the backseat, now Sanji has to fight against rolling his eyes at the safety measures Zoro goes to in order to keep him from exhausting himself. And for once, he feels like he doesn’t mind the attention; being spoiled by Zoro does certainly give him a very sweet feeling. But sitting in the backseat is taking it too far so he tells the young man to forget about it as he gets into the passenger seat.

 

Sanji is sitting with his elbow propped on the sill of the car window when he notices the driver casting fervent glances at him from time to time, and they aren’t very apart. Sanji scoffs and doesn’t even look the guy’s direction when he speaks. “I really don’t want to end up crushing against a tree.” He said with a steady voice. “Keep your eyes on the road, not me.”

The driver fidgets and nods, now looking through the windshield. “I’m sorry,” he says, “it’s just… lots of rumors are going around back at the bank that director is going out with a man, and I never believed it but seems like people have been right all this time.”

“So what,” Sanji snorts humorlessly, “dating a man is a crime now?”

“No, no,” the young worker denies, “I never said that.” He says on an asymmetrical smile, “I respect Mr. Ronoa a lot, I really do. He’s the only person creating jobs for half of the youth in town, and many people look up to him.”

“But your problem is with me.” Sanji finishes for the other, having finally figured out what he’s been angling for.

The young man’s thin lips twitch into an unexpected smirk, “In a situation like this, I should be talking about how your reputation precedes you. I heard how you helped a Gumiho and released a Jiangshi, but you really don’t look like much to me.” He taunts, “From what I heard, you’re more trouble than you’re worth.” He momentarily pauses and then scoffs, “and now you’re pregnant?”

Sanji frowns, but he keeps his eyes on the window at his side; that small inkling to protect his baby nags at him and he finds that he’s slowly wrapping his arms around his belly.

“Don’t get me wrong,” The young worker gesticulates with a hand, lazily. “I acknowledge your efforts, I do.” He says, now bringing the car to a stop since the street light is flickering red, “You must have been pretty desperate to get your hands on something like fertility spells.” He glances over at Sanji, wicked eyes glinting with malice, “Kinda reminds me of the girl who faked her pregnancy last year so her boyfriend wouldn’t dump her.”

Last year had its failures, and Sanji isn’t going to deny that. He had himself embroiled in things he did not see coming and ended up with something the fertility deity he had been trailing down back then called ‘a blessing in disguise’, which, okay, skank, turned out to be true in the end; he doesn’t know if loving Iskren more than he already does would harm one of them physically. But a spell is still a spell, and Sanji had to see the depths of hell because of it. Granted, his ordeals can’t compare to the things Zoro went through, but an ordeal is still an ordeal too and Sanji isn’t going to let some ineffably babbling filcher with an attention span of a Neanderthal come here with his spiky ponytail and that superior condemnatory attitude to tell him how little the worth of his existence in Zoro’s life means.

Sanji unhitches the seat belt retractor, and glides a hand to the young man’s hair from the back, clutches at it only to slam his face on the steering wheel until the honk blares off. The young man whimpers and rubs the area between his forehead and nose gingerly.

“What the hell!” He exclaims in outright rage.

“Oh, you’re a dog, I’m sure you can heal from something like that.” Sanji gives a sardonic smile, tapping at the young man’s hair and rendering it flat. “Now, let’s make a few things clear.”

The other looks up with a frown and a red spot on his forehead which satisfies Sanji.

“First of all,  _this_ ” –Sanji rounds his index about his face clockwise– “is the definition of a Godlike face.”

The young man scrunches his face in distaste, which, ouch, disturbs his bruise.

“And second of all,” he tightens his grip on that ponytail, “speak like that again of the Alpha’s mate and you’ll never live to see the next sunrise.” He threatens, “And don’t think I’m going to tell Zoro any of this, because if I ever catch you even thinking about badmouthing me, I‘m not gonna give you some slow-paced, didactic lecture, no; I’ll deal with you myself, and believe me, you’d wish you chose death instead.” He jerks the hair for emphasis and gives the head a hefty shove before he lets go. “Now keep that trash can for a mouth shut and drive.”

 

They eventually reach the place where Zoro works in one piece, he can’t say much about the guy’s nose though. The worker leaves the car in a hurry since the bank building is across the spot they parked at, and he leaves the door slightly ajar. Sanji ducks a little to look out the window of the driver’s side, and he spots Zoro and Kuina by the entrance of the building, chatting away. Then something marvelous happens when the young worker approaches Zoro, hands him the car keys and then pulls Zoro by the lapses of the jacket the Alpha picked out this morning. Sanji is lost for a friction of a second, not really knowing how to react to that but scoff. The young worker then mimes a jubilant ‘are you leaving?’ that has Sanji snorting out an involuntary laugh that gets the others’ attention.

Zoro uncrosses the worker’s arms from his shoulders, and ruffles the snooty bastard’s hair before he waves bye to his sister and walks up to the car, shuts the door and turns to face Sanji, a shy smile on his rosy lips.

“Hey.” He says, leaning in to kiss Sanji’s lips.

Sanji quickly rakes a hand through Zoro’s hair as the kiss prolongs.

After they both have enough, Zoro pulls away, resting their foreheads together and rubbing Sanji’s belly with a hand.

“Next time,” Sanji licks his swollen lips and smiles, “Don’t send a werewolf to get me.”

Zoro pulls away completely now, cocks his head as he sniffs the chemo signals roving about the car’s interior. “Did –” he clears his throat because he’s about to look like the discovery has knocked him off balance, “Did you two fight?”

Sanji plays with his bottom lip, “Nah,” he denies, “What makes you say that?”

Zoro narrows his eyes at his mate, “Are you sure?” he inquires, “you aren’t angry?”

“I’m a little upset because I had to deal with a headache” make it two “before meeting you and that’s not how I want to start our date.”

Zoro clasps his lips together, bows his head and smiles to his lap.

“Oh?” Sanji croons mischievously, “Acting like a grade-schooler. A little shy, aren’t we?”

Zoro pushes the ignition start button and sends a friendly rumble to Sanji, “Stop it.”

Said man smiles broadly, and relaxes in his seat for the first time.

“I’m taking the rest of the day off,” Zoro informs as the car tears off the sidewalk, “we contacted the court” –he glances over at Sanji before looking ahead– “Actually, I just called my uncle, told him to issue some provisional sanction to let me get my authority back, sort of like going out on parole.” He confesses, “I’m positive I’m ready to handle my pack and my work again. He said I only need to give some proof.”

“Proof?” Sanji echoes. He has straightened in his seat while Zoro talked, and now he has a few questions of his own to put on the table. “Like they need to see how you’ve improved?”

Zoro nods agreeably, “Exactly.”

“Zoro, that’s great news.” Sanji intones; the hand he used earlier to hit the other punk is now stroking Zoro’s nape with the touch of a lover, which he is. “It’s going to take a little time but I’m certain you gonna pull it off.”

Zoro smirks to himself, liking the reassurance coming from his mate.

“Besides,” Sanji resumes, not taking his hand off the radiating body heat. “I don’t think the pack can stay away from you for that long.”

Zoro lets out a charmingly deep laugh, “You know them too well.”

“I only know that they care a lot for their Alpha.” He admits on a genuine smile. “They’re good kids, Zoro. I don’t know how it all started but I’m thankful you chose well.”

Zoro nods. And the blond can hear his mate’s thoughts going back in time to when he recruited his pack. One day, he’ll ask how it all started, but for now, he’ll keep this about him and Zoro.

“Also,” Sanji retrieves his hand to rub his belly, eyes scanning the passing landscapes. “Where are you taking me?”

“There’s hardly anything to see in town, so I thought we’d hit the next place.” Zoro shrugs, “or did you have something else on mind?”

Sanji shakes his head, “but, Zoro, it won’t be a fun ride for me if it’s more than twenty minute drive.”

“And why is that.” Zoro arches a brow at his mate.

“Grab a pen.” Sanji jokes, “Seriously, let’s just buy some food and go somewhere nice in the open. There’s sun and there’s no wind, this calls for a picnic.”

Zoro knows the motives behind Sanji’s decision to eat in the open, and he knows since they live surrounded by mountains not many people go out in picnics which will provide Sanji with more privacy, because, as far as Zoro remembers, Sanji doesn’t do picnics. And like he said, Sanji shouldn’t feel insecure when people are around, but this is what Sanji wants and Zoro is going to respect his wish.

 

Zoro then pulls by the new restaurant and asks Sanji to wait in the car, and as Sanji grabs a few bucks from his pocket to pay for the food, Zoro looks insulted before leaving the scene entirely in heavy stomps.

“Snap.” Sanji comments as soon as Zoro vanishes inside the restaurant.

Honestly, even if it’s a few bucks, Sanji wanted to do something for Zoro in return for all the things he does for him. Sanji isn’t rich, and at the moment he can’t get a job, so when people treat him to food it really works on underlining his financial status that has been flagging disaster as of late. But, if spending money on him makes Zoro happy, Sanji will let him have it. At least until he gets back on his feet.

Zoro comes back with the take-outs, places them in the back seat before he gets into his. “There’s a nice clearing just beyond the preserve.”

The wheels roll, the car starts to move again.

 

“By the way, I never asked you this but what the hell is in the preserve?” Sanji wonders.

“It’s the safety zone of some rarest foxes in the world,” he says, “some of those were becoming instinct a few years back so the township had an agreement with the Forest Service to establish a preserve in this area. Some of the executives who work there know about the Ronoa clan, so we also forged a treaty with them to protect the preserve while they clean out the mess.”

Sanji’s lips curl with reverence. “Cool.”

“I’m telling you you’re going to see some of the rarest foxes in the world and all you have to say is ‘cool’?” Zoro can’t help but laugh.

Sanji ends up laughing too. “I’ll have a different reaction if I see one.” He reasons, “Until then, I’ll keep my excitement to myself.”

 

The car soon slides into a treeless clearing that overlooks the town and the mountains they left behind. Zoro stops the car beside a bolder and hops out, rounding the trunk of the car to peck out a couple of blankets still wrapped in plastic. Sanji gets off the car too, his baggy tunic fluttering everywhere when he is fully outside.

“I’ll be damned.” He comments, now walking towards the clearing. “This is actually very nice.”

Zoro approaches him and drapes a blanket on his shoulders, and as the latter reels, Zoro’s poker-face doesn’t change. “You’re not dressed warm enough, and the east wind is blowing.” He says as he adjusts the blanket on those skinny shoulders.

Sanji’s eyes roam in Zoro’s, “being all over me,” he says, “you’re such a mother hen.”

Zoro smiles at that and leans in to kiss Sanji across the cheek, “and you” –he drags his lips towards the other’s ear to whisper into it– “like it.”

Sanji’s heart flutters and he quickly looks away, feigning indifference.  “We’re here” he says, “Let’s sit somewhere before we lose the sun.”

 

 

“Say,” Sanji prompts on a mouthful. They’ve already seated themselves on the second blanket Zoro took out from the car earlier, and they’re sitting cross-legged across each other. “That employee you sent to get me, what’s his name?”

Zoro gulps the piece of meat he’s been chewing, “Who, Sasha?”

“How long has he been working for you?”

Zoro crooks his tongue behind the lower racks of teeth, eyes quivering as he travels back in his memory. “Seven years, I guess, maybe more.” He says, “Why are you suddenly asking me about Sasha?”

Sanji shakes his head idly before he lifts more meat in his chopsticks to dump in his mouth. “Just because.” He says at first but he knows that won’t sate Zoro’s curiosity, “He seems like a loyal kid, overbearing, but overall he cares about you a lot.”

 “I guess so.” Zoro says.

“Don’t give me that face.” Sanji whines.

“What face?” Zoro shrugs.

“That face you make before something bad happens.” Sanji replies.

“Nothing bad is gonna happen.” Zoro assures.

“Then why are you making that face?” Sanji insists.

“Look,” Zoro finally blows a deep breath, discarding his box of food on the blanketed ground, “When I got in the car, I scented anger and jealousy. Now, I don’t know what happened but I know something happened, and now you’re asking about him…” He trails off.

“Don’t put two and two together,” Sanji warns on a sigh, “it’s gonna give you a headache.”

“So you  _were_  angry back then!” Zoro exclaims.

“We had a little dispute, but I handled it.” Sanji lifts an assuring hand, “More importantly, we need to talk about the nursery.”

Zoro deflates in on himself and his head lolls to his chest, “I completely forgot about that.”

“I was thinking maybe we should set it up in my place?” Sanji puts his half empty box down beside his first empty box.

“What’s wrong with my place?”

“Nothing,” Sanji replies, “It’s just a little far from town and the hike is a bitch.”

“I’ll have someone drive you to and fro.” Zoro persuades.

Sanji is already shaking his head, “No, that’s not who I am.” He says, “I won’t enjoy it.”

Zoro scrunches his face, “You’re not supposed to enjoy it.”

“My place is warded.”

“We can ward mine, too.” Zoro counters.

“It took both my parents to pull up the barrier.” Sanji highs a hand and lets it flop down on his knee, “and I don’t want to use any magic during my pregnancy.”

“Fine,” Zoro acquiesces, but quickly comes up with another solution, “Chopper will do it.”

“I don’t understand,” Sanji preens, “why are you so against my idea?”

“Because” –Zoro drones as he gets on his knees and crawls towards Sanji– “I don’t want to be separated from you again. I don’t want you and my baby in some place that I don’t know of.”

Sanji relents with a smile that exceeds the sun with its warmth.

Zoro sits appropriately in front of him, his brows meeting in a crease over his forehead, “I’ll tell Chopper to set up the barrier around the entire house. Sanji, I just want you to be safe. I want you to be there when I come back home, that’s all.”

Sanji wants nothing but to pat Zoro’s head for the sweet things he’s wringing himself to say. Zoro isn’t the romantic type and uttering words of love and sentiments like this must be harder than the detoxification his body goes into every time he doesn’t drink Sanji’s blood. Not to bring up the ugly side of this anyway. But Sanji feels movement in his belly and he really wants to let Zoro in on one of the world’s best wonders.

“I want you to see something.” He reveals, lips widening into a grin.

Zoro scowls: typical grumpy fur ball behavior.

“It’s something you’re going to see for the first time, I mean you haven’t seen me naked, not even once since I got back, right?” He asks, and quickly adds “And no, I’m not taking my clothes off.”

Zoro chuckles at that.

“But Ren wants to let you know that he likes you very much.” At this, Sanji shifts, loosens the blanket from his belly and lifts the hem of the tunic up, revealing the bare skin of his swollen belly for the first time. Around the middle, the shape of hands underneath the skin, tiny little hands, push against Sanji’s belly. It gets suddenly too quiet so Sanji lifts his eyes only to find Zoro gaping at his naked middle with gushing ecstasy, and Sanji gawks. “Now that’s a face I’ve never seen before.”

Zoro palms out both his hands on the baby’s.

“Almost feels like he’s screaming ‘let me out of here’,” Sanji jokes, yet his right hand goes to Zoro’s face, framing his cheek, “but I can feel most of what he feels, and I know for certain that he’s happy right now.”

“This is…” Zoro is literally at a loss for words.

“Zoro,” Sanji starts, “I’m fine with your place, as long as the three of us are together nothing else should matter.”

 Zoro ducks down to Sanji’s naked belly, lands kisses all over it. “Sanji, you’re amazing.” He finally speaks, “walking around with this little guy kicking and jabbing.”

“The placenta is very thin which is why I see all of his movements.” Sanji explains as he brings his fingers to Zoro’s hair, brushing in slow motions. “The baby is still safe though, after all, this is no ordinary pregnancy.”

“We’ll make it work.” Zoro nuzzles the belly with his nose, “I want you to deliver our baby soon so I can play dad.”

Sanji barks a laugh, “Which reminds me, I can give birth to him at the end of this month if I want.”

Zoro perks up. “But that’s too early.”

“Not really,” Sanji shrugs a shoulder, “if his brain and lungs can function on their own then he won’t need to stay.”

Zoro’s face brightens up, “Let’s do that, then,” he says, eagerly. “Let’s make a promise.”

Sanji lifts his pinky despite how childish he feels it is, “I promise that you’ll hold Ren in your hands by the end of this month.”

Zoro hooks his pinky to Sanji’s, “Good.”

 

 

The sun reclines to a different angle when the clock hits two in the afternoon. Sanji is still sitting cross-legged with the same blanket on his back, he is leaning his head on Zoro’s shoulder and enjoying the noises those insects and birds make.

“We haven’t seen any foxes, Zoro.” He whines, “I’m starting to think you’re a liar.”

“Very slowly, Sanji, there’s a silver fox on top of that hill.” Zoro whispers, “He’s been watching us for a while now.”

Sanji slowly looks at the aforementioned hill ahead, finding a black-furred fox sprawled on its four and looking at them. “It’s true!” Sanji exclaims, still in a whisper. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I needed to make eye-contact with him first, it’s –um, an animal thing,” Zoro says, “He knows we’re not here to harm him, so he doesn’t have to worry about us.”

“You can understand him?”

“His behavior, yes.” Zoro tells him, “I’m half wolf so a very small part of me is related to the biological family of canids” he says, “which includes foxes.”

Sanji takes a moment to appreciate the information, but the part of him that wants to crack a joke eventually wins. “That’s your long lost brother, Zoro.” He says, face mock-serious. “Should we invite him over, get you guys to hug it out and all.”

Zoro shakes his head dangerously, but they both it’s all in good fun, “No, you didn’t.”

Sanji lets out a hearty laugh as he lifts his head off the other’s shoulder, “Oh, yes I did.”

Zoro’s arms dart one to Sanji’s middle and the other to the back of his head so he won’t cause him discomfort when he pulls him over his lap, but Sanji makes a soft giggle at the action and quickly slides his hands over Zoro’s shoulders once he’s straddled the man’s lap. The blanket slowly slides off his shoulders.

“You get easily provoked.” He remarks, “but you caught me, so what’re you gonna do to me?”

“Oh,” Zoro enunciates playfully, “I’ll show you.”

Zoro brings his hands to Sanji’s hair, plunges all his ten fingers through the smooth strands, and both of them let out a sigh at the resultant feeling. Sanji’s pupils roll under his lids as Zoro massages his scalp.

“After this you’re so giving me a back massage.” He purrs.

“That’s not what I was planning to do, though.” Zoro lets out a buoyant chuckle, “but I’ll do that when we’re on a bed.”

Sanji’s eyes are more focused now as he looks into Zoro’s greedy ones. “Then what were you planning to do?”

“Kiss you?” he replies, “we haven’t kissed yet, not since you got back.”

“We kissed at the wildflower field, Zoro, and this morning. Or are you losing your memory again.”

He means it as a joke, but Zoro tenses so hard that it’s impossible for Sanji to ignore. And he can’t miss on the way Zoro lowers his head and smiles solemnly. This wasn’t what he intended to do, him and his big loud mouth. Why did he have to bring it up when the wound is still so damn fresh? The way Zoro’s eyes quiver tells Sanji that he is reliving the past in his head, and he wishes he’d take it back, if he could take it all back.

“Zoro, I’m sorry.” He rasps out, “I fucking ruined it. I’m so stupid.”

“It’s not your fault.” Zoro shakes his head. When he looked up, that poker-face was plastered on again and it takes Sanji to the very first days of meeting Zoro, when he didn’t even know his name. Zoro looks up at the sky and frowns more, “We should head back,” he prompts, “we still have a long list of shopping to go through.”

When he tries to move, Sanji’s hands quickly clasp around his neck and he buries his face in Zoro’s neck, but he remains silent.

Zoro’s arms would have wrapped around Sanji’s back if he wasn’t feeling this darkness eating him from the inside. And he appreciates what Sanji is doing, but maybe it’s wise to head back because his dark feelings have come to consume half of his heart in the past twelve months and he doesn’t know what him being alone with Sanji in an uninhabited place would do to him.

“Come on,” he coaxes, gently. “It’s getting chillier.” Saying so, he unhooks Sanji’s arms and levers up to his feet, and Sanji fixates him with a vague stare.

When Sanji looked back at the hill, the silver fox was long gone.

 

They have collected everything and placed it back in the trunk before they moved out of there, and they haven’t spoken a word.

More than anything else, Sanji hates this silence the most. It’s like they are back to square one and Zoro is too wrapped up in his remorse to see straight. And honestly, Sanji wants him to quit this habit, and it’s more preferable if he does it on his own. So he keeps quiet.

“Which shop ‘you wanna see first?” Zoro asks, gruffly.

“Just take me home,” Sanji lets out a sigh, “I’m tired.”

After a deafening pause

“'My place or yours” Again, bad-temperedly and curtly, it pierces Sanji’s heart.

“Mine.” Of course, if Zoro is going to continue to act like this then Sanji is better safe at his place where he won’t have to deal with angry vibes aiming his way. But what Zoro doesn’t understand is that when Sanji said ‘take me home’, he meant to Zoro’s because that’s where they agreed to build the nursery.

Moments later, Sanji finds himself looking at the entrance of his apartment building. He gets off and before he slams the door shut, because he will, he looks very closely at Zoro and scoffs, “You’re jerk, you know that?”

Zoro looks away from the windshield and at him, “I’ll call you.”

“Yeah, I somehow doubt that.” Sanji grits out before slamming the door shut. He watches with a scowl how Zoro glowers at the road and takes off without looking back, and he wants to throw rocks at him for being so… he sighs. He just can’t figure him out.

 

Upstairs, he realizes that he doesn’t have the keys to his apartment; he must have left them in the car along with his phone, just great. He knows Robin isn’t at Law’s because she’s usually at school around this time in the afternoon, but he wonders if Tsuru could be of any help.

He knocks on their door and waits. Tsuru, donning a black ensemble with Vivi in tow opens the door, and her face lightens up at the sight of the visitor.

“Sanji!” she pulls him into a hug, “It’s been so long since you knocked on my door.”

Sanji wraps his arms around her and relishes the motherly warmth that he was denied at a very young age. He pulls away and narrows his eyes at her. “Do you stash up secret remedies or something?” He wonders, “You look younger every time.”

She chuckles happily, “Oh, dear, you know how to make a woman blush.” She gushes, “Come on in. I prepared some tea, but I don’t want to sip it by myself.”

Sanji bows a little to play with Vivi’s fur, “You look very happy to see me.”

 _“Oh, Sanji, you have no idea_.” Vivi intones. “ _I’ll jump out of the window if I’m forced to take another shower again.”_

Sanji laughs and quickly straightens up to reduce the pressure on his back, “I hope she didn’t cause any troubles.” He tells Tsuru who shakes her head and seizes the chance to ruffle the dog’s fur.

“No, not at all,” She assures, “She is a very smart dog, doesn’t move around too much, docile to take everywhere.”

 _“Oh, God!”_  Vivi exclaims. “ _She makes me sound like a Bullmastiff.”_

 

 

 

 

“Not everything, but yeah, I know most of what goes on here.” Tsuru admitted.

They’re sitting in her living-room across from each other with Vivi leaning her chin on Sanji’s lap, savoring up the closeness that was taken from her when Sanji spent quality time with his mate. There’s tea on the table and some pastries dunked in honey and sprayed with sesame, adding a homey feeling to the entire set.

“I knew what my daughter used to do for a living,” she tells him, “and my grandson who is now a royal guard of the Ronoa clan.”

Sanji can’t help the scoff that escapes his throat. He was happy he finally no longer had to feel like he was the only one left out, and you know what, he won’t feel that way again. He grew out of it. People are entitled to their privacy, and he is not going to pry. He believes he decided this a while ago. He just can’t remember when.

“But anyway,” she wraps it up, her eyes land on Sanji’s burgeoning bump. “I heard it’s a boy.”

Sanji adjusts his position, getting a little defensive against his will. “Yeah, Ren, short for Iskren, that’s his name”

“Oh, the sincere one.” She comments, “Now that’s an unusual name, were you the one who named him?”

“My friend did.” Sanji corrects.

“It’s a very beautiful name still.” Tsuru lifts from her seat and approaches Sanji who shrinks slightly away from her. “Relax, my child,” she coaxs, now sitting next to him and occupying the side where Vivi isn’t sleeping. “I’m old-fashioned so maybe I can help with a thing or two?”

He wants to dig his nails into his palms to keep from bolting out of the house. Being alone for four months taught Sanji to be extra careful around everyone, no matter who it was. It’s a habit he will need time to kill.

“Lift up your tunic, let me see how he’s growing.” She ushers with her hand.

With a lot of evident hesitation, Sanji lifts off the hem of his tunic and his naked belly comes into view.

Tsuru’s face is relenting with a warm smile that makes Sanji relax a little. “I’m really speechless.”

“It’s a little unsettling,” Sanji says, “I’m sorry.”

“I would like to cop a feel, if you don’t mind.” Her eyes glint with a little twinge of worry that has Sanji shaking his head in assent. She runs her palm on the bottom side of the belly, her brows furrowing gradually. “It’s a little dry here” she points out, “the stretch marks are going to cause you pain if you don’t moisturize.”

“I do moisturize it,” Sanji provides, “I use regular lotions though, but it still gets uncomfortably itchy sometimes.”

Tsuru retrieves her hand and shakes her head, “That won’t do, Sanji. Your skin is too dry, which tells me you don’t moisturize it very often and you use cheap products, too.”

Sanji lets the tunic fall and he scratches his temple, “I’m sort of on a tight budget these days,” he confesses with a blush, “but I’ll try to use other lotions, I promise.”

She fixates on him for a moment before lifting up, “Wait here.”

Sanji watches with a perplexed stare how she ambles towards the other room and comes back after a couple of minutes with a small box in her hand. She sits beside him again and hands him the box.

“I bought two of this last week for my feet, but I’m really not used to lotions. I prefer olive oil.” She said, “I never used it so what’s the point in throwing it away when  _you_  can use it.”

Sanji eyes the box, “Is it really okay to give it to me?” he wonders aloud, “The box is still new and looks expensive.”

She huffs and forces Sanji’s hands flat so she can place the box on them, “I’m giving the other box to Robin,” she informs, “She is so dear, but you are like a son to me.”

Sanji accepts the gift with both his hands and bows his head, “Thank you for looking after her.”

Tsuru shakes her head, a nostalgic expression dons her face, “She makes my grandson happy, and after everything I’ve seen, his smile is the only thing I care about now.” She says, “Robin is very kind to us, and she’s quickly found a place in my heart for her. She is a fine lady and I hope one day she’ll become Law’s bride.”

Sanji quirks a weak smile and slowly lowers his head, as though he’s ashamed. “Both of them are too kind. I don’t know what I’d have done without them.”

“Law told me a few bits of what happened,” Tsuru zooms in on his doleful eyes, “and if it matters at all, you really are strong. I know it hasn’t been easy but I also know you’re not a quitter.”

“Thank you.” He bows again, slightly.

 

 

She finally tells him that Robin never leaves the keys wander far from her because of what happened in the past, and Tsuru even offered he waits inside until Robin comes back. Although his shoulders slumped at that, he eventually perked up at the bright side of it after he walked out of the apartment, eyeing the box in hand with such a happy face. He is going to give his belly a very good and long massage and Ren is going to feel awesome and will have more space to kick and punch after this.

He lifts his eyes from the moisturizer and finds Zoro waiting by the door of his apartment with keys and a cased phone in his hand. Sanji halts mid-stride, narrowing his eyes slightly at the man before walking up to him.

“You forgot these in my car.” Saying so, Zoro offers the aforementioned items to the other.

Sanji takes them but doesn’t take his eyes off Zoro’s. “Do you want to come in?”

Zoro waits until Sanji has taken all the items before he looks up and shakes his head, “I called my office,” he says, “told them I was returning.” Saying so, he touches his palm to Sanji’s belly. “I’ll call you later. I will.”

Sanji’s eyes flutter because he spent too long staring without blinking, and then he nods faintly, “I’ll wait for your call then.”

Just like that, Zoro turns around and walks away.

“Darn,” Sanji lets out a bitter sigh, “I really wanted him to stay.”

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I'm not officially back yet. But since most of you are having exams or extra work, I decided to give you something to pass your lunch break with lol
> 
> Enjoy.

 

 

 

Sanji finally spreads the front door open after whoever guest outside kept knocking despite him yelling ‘coming’, and he finds Zoro in same clothing from this morning, standing with a handful of shopping bags in both hands. Sanji is wearing a v-neck over-sized white sweater and black sweatpants, and he smiles broadly when his eyes fall on Zoro’s.

“I thought you weren’t going to call at all.”

Zoro nods to show that even though he didn’t call like he said he would, he still showed up at Sanji’s threshold. Then, he prompts up at the exuberant noises coming from the inside, and although he can make out the people occupying the living-room, he still asks, “What’s going on in there?”

Sanji ushers with his head, “come in.” Saying so, he walks back inside and leaves the door open for Zoro.

Said man takes a deep inhale and lets it out very slowly before walking in, finding his pack inside the apartment still in their uniforms, Law and Kuina as well, all surrounding the coffee table as Sanji and Robin loiter in the kitchen with steam foaming from the gurgling saucepans and pots, serving meals for the guests.

“Zoro!” Usopp chirps and hops up to his feet, taking the bags from his Alpha’s hands and leaving Sanji wondering when the pack’s habit of calling their Alpha by his first name started. “We’re so happy you decided to come.”

“Here, sit with us!” Keimi gushes.

“The food is really great,” Luffy offers, “you’re going to love it.”

“Welcome home, Zoro.” Nami bows her head.

“We’re really happy to see you.” Frank makes that shy smile and tries to camouflage it by giving a thumbs-up.

Zoro nods to each one of them. He swivels towards Sanji when the latter scoffed and approached the place Zoro is standing at with a dishcloth and a marble plate in his hands, face crunched in distaste.

“They’re the same old little shits,” he said, “Courteous to their Alpha and not even bothering to save Sanij’s share.”

“Better stock on your share now then, J.” Kuina warns on a friendly smile, tossing a piece of meat to Vivi who is sprawled on her pillow.

“What about you Law, you have nothing to say about the injustice I have to endure from these eighteen-year-olds?”

Law lifts his dish and his fork, “Sorry,” he says on a mouthful, “I’m busy eating delicious food.”

“Traitor.” The blond jokes, and looks up into Zoro’s perplexed eyes, “I’ll explain.” He starts, “Last month was my birthday, and a few days ago Ren became eight months old, so when I spoke to Kuina on the phone and the talk steered to this, she decided to throw a little party” –he lifts both hands; the dishcloth and the plate going up as well– “I had no idea everyone was coming over. I promise. But somehow word got out, not hard to see what happened there really, and voila, house looks like a zoo.” Saying so, he chuckles at the two at the table grumbling about his descriptor and how Luffy roars 'ooh ha ha' and hits his chest like a chimp. Sanji returns his hands in front of his belly to wipe the dish, and he pouts-smiles at Zoro, eyes becoming tenderer. “I wanted to ask you over but with all this, it kinda skipped me.”

Zoro is in the process of nodding to wave it off, but his eyes catch sight of something on Sanji’s chest that makes his stomach roil. “Hey,” He finally speaks, and his hand darts to pull down one side of Sanji’s v-shaped collar, but he never expected his mate’s reaction to be like this: At the feeling of something approaching his chest, the dish in Sanji’s hand falls and breaks into pieces and the cloth doesn’t mask the spectacular noise, as he brings his hands up to defend himself.

The following silence raises the volume of Sanji’s heavy panting.

“J…” Zoro freezes in the same position with his eyes widening and his hand in the air, “Sanji, I –I could never hurt you…”

Sanji’s arms start to slide down very slowly. His chest is still going up and down and his eyes are still bugging out with fear coating his expression. His trembling irises wander about at his surroundings, and he finds everyone has paused and is staring at him. He feels the air suffocating. Any more of this and he will seriously hyperventilate.

Zoro lowers his arm too and tries to approach him in cautious steps, “I’m  _not_  going to hurt you, Sanji–”

Sanji quickly cups Zoro’s mouth with a hand and shakes his head to silence him, “I know.” He breathes out, swallowing to even out his labored breathing. “My body just kind of acted on its own.”

Zoro, of course, doesn’t believe that.

Sanji returns his hand to his chest, foiling the lapses of his v-neck together so that Zoro won’t see that awful thing any longer. “Just –” Sanji waves it off when he smiles wearily at Zoro, “Go inside, you still haven’t eaten anything, right? So go in. I’ll clean this up.” Without waiting to see what Zoro may choose, Sanji returns to the kitchen and ignores the side glances Robin is flinging his shaky hands.

 

Zoro eventually finds his spot on the sofa, and Kuina has managed to engage him in a conversation even if it’s work-related. Everyone is satisfied he’s not giving off those ominous vibes like he wants to hit something; the poor wall can only handle so much. Sanji has cleaned the mess of broken marble pieces before he sat beside Zoro, and Robin next to Law.

 

“By the way,” Robin rolls the fork between her fingers, “whatever happened to that were-cat?”

“Yeah,” Sanji agrees, “I stopped getting those headaches, must mean it’s been taken care of, right?”

“Not exactly,” Kuina crunches up her nose. “Turned out it was a Harpy.”

“A what” Robin echoes.

“A Harpy. It’s a rapacious monster with a body of a bird and a face of a woman. It used to be just a Greek mythology, but not anymore.” Law explains.

“Witchcraft was involved.” Zoro’s deep voice resonates above the others’. “The creature appeared as a were-cat at first to deceive the hunters and my pack.”

“Turned out” –Frank finishes for him– “someone used black magic to disguise the Harpy, leading us into a loop. The hunters eventually figured it out after we found its body dead in the woods.”

“Someone killed it.” Sanji concludes with a look of awe.

Law nods attentively, “It wasn’t the pack and it wasn’t the hunters.”

“Then who was it?” Sanji demands, eagerness palpable in his voice.

“We don’t know.” Usopp admits, “By the time we got there, the harpy was already dead.”

“And no longer disguised as a were-cat.” Luffy liked to elaborate.

Kuina clears her throat, “but whatever or whoever killed it, they weren’t playing around.” She says, “The Harpy was almost beyond recognition.”

“The hunters told us not to even get close to it because it was their bounty.” Nami huffs, “but whoever disguised it didn’t forget to finish their homework.”

“What do you mean?” Sanji inquires.

“The Harpy vanished just after they shipped it into their van.” Frank replies, “We couldn’t locate its scent afterwards.”

Everyone falls prey to their own speculations then, pensive expressions glowering at the space. Then a clank coming from Zoro’s plate when he places it on the table takes them out of their deep contemplations.

“The source of the witchery that was used was Hancock, Mia’s witch.” Zoro leans back on the backrest of the sofa and speaks in his smoky voice, eyes casted over his lap. “She dredged it up using some sort of an old magic – _Old Religion_  old.” He says, “It was a little tricky at first, and I knew the hunters and even my pack here wouldn’t get a lick of a chance at that thing unless I decoded the spell.”

Realization starts to dawn on each one of them as they listen intently.

“A were-cat causes aggressive behavior in dogs, but what happened to Vivi wasn’t aggression, she did act weird but she didn’t fit the profile, and none of the town’s dogs did.” He explains, “The kind of aggression a were-cat causes in dogs is different, it consists of grumpy moods, loss of appetite and complete seclusion of oneself which goes against dogs’ social nature.” He braces his elbow on the armrest to prop a hand under his chin. “That was the first clue.”

“A clue for what?” Sanji asks, brows furrowing deeply at his mate.

“That what we were dealing with wasn’t a were-cat.” He answers.

“But why didn’t you say anything, why didn’t you tell us?” Usopp whines.

“I knew black magic was involved and I knew Hancock was the cause of it,” he admits, “but I let her get one step ahead. I wanted her to think that she was smarter than the hunters and smarter than my pack so I’d sneak without hindrances.”

“You think they’re a hindrance?” Sanji demands, voice faltering by the ending of the sentence.

“It’s not like that.” Zoro rubs his temples before he looks at his pack. “I needed something to vent my anger on; the Harpy was there.” He sighs. “I couldn’t allow anyone to stand in my way. It was safer for everyone.”

“You killed the Harpy?” Kuina questions, head tilting.

“I don’t remember, alright?” Zoro lets out another sigh, “All I know is that I was trailing her down, and then nothing. When I came to, I was in my backyard covered in blood.” He scrubs his face, “then I heard the news of the dead harpy and it all started to make sense.”

“Zoro,” Kuina bites out, “what did we tell you about going on a killing spree?”

Wait, did she just ask him like she was chiding a little kid for stealing candy?

Zoro scoffs, “Yeah, tell that to the other guy.” He bites his bottom lip when nobody says anything. “I should have said something, but you know how I was,” he says, “didn’t care if another monster got slaughtered.”

“Okay!” Sanji prompts up after an intense pause, his hands going up and down, slapping his thighs. “Think we all had our share of downs this year, how about we fold it all and throw it behind our backs by making a toast!”

“Minors can’t drink.” Nami reminds him with her bored eyes.

“Especially the pregnant ones.” Kuina smirks deeply to him.

“I have it covered, you devils.” Sanji smiles after a slight eye-roll, “Orange juice for everyone!”

Luffy complains, “Lame!”

“Give us some liquor!” Usopp shouts.

In fact, everyone was appreciating what Sanji was trying to do: defending and covering up for his mate because he’s had enough of all the darkness that has accompanied the Alpha in the past few months. No one is going to make Zoro feel bad about what he’s done unconscious as long as Sanji is there to fend them off.

“Get out of your diapers and I might reconsider.” Sanji jokes, and everyone but Usopp laughs at that. “It’s about the toast, not the drink.”

“He’s right, you know.” Law agrees with that silly smile of his.

Sanji props a hand on the armrest to support himself as he strains up, but Robin is already pushing him down gently to his seat and offering to bring the juice in his stead, which he feels grateful for. As they wait for the cups and the juice to come, everyone chats on about things from their school or share a laugh about a funny story. Zoro is silent and only beholding the warm scene in his eyes, loving how it’s slowly redefining his sense of pack, family and friends together. Everyone here has gone through something and bounced back stronger. They all share something and that something not all blood-related individuals can obtain. It’s so warm in this small apartment, so warm that Zoro feels like it’s only a dream, and it’ll fade away the sooner he blinks. But then fingers glide to his hand that’s been palmed out on his thigh, and they twine with his fingers. He knows it’s Sanji’s, cold and delicate. He could never mistake his touch. But he needs a visual proof that this is real and no darkness could snatch it away from right under his nose. He finds Sanji’s fingers twined with his, resting on his thigh. He looks at Sanji’s profile as the man speaks to Kuina who is sitting to his left, and just then, he wishes nothing more than to bring Sanji to his chest and stay like that for all eternity.

He smirks to himself, adjusts their hand position and even delights inwardly when Sanji’s cheeks start to redden.

The juice bottle and the tag-along cups finally make their way to the already packed table, and everyone helps removing or stocking the dishes together to make some space. Robin fills the cups and hands them to each one of the company.

“Who’s gonna make the toast?” Keimi wonders loudly.

Kuina offers “Sanji?”

Said man looks up and smiles quietly, “I think it’s best if Zoro makes the toast.”

Reading the implication in there, everyone, including Zoro, agrees to Sanji’s plan.

Zoro lifts his cup and tightens his grip on Sanji’s hand, and for the first time in front of everyone, Zoro smiles broadly. “To us.”

 

 

“I’ll drop by tomorrow,” Robin tells Sanji as he sees her off, “You know, to help out with the cleaning and everything.”

Sanji tilts his head, “How can I even survive without you?”

Robin smiles until her cheekbones protrude, “You can’t.” she says, pecking at his cheek, “Good night, sweetheart.”

She’s the last one to leave the apartment. Sanji turns around, he eyes the mess he is left with and lets out a deep sigh; it’s going to take hours to clean everything. He walks back to the sofa and doesn’t find Zoro there, but he hears the water running in the shower and concludes what’s happening. He told Robin he’d wait until she came over to help but he can’t sleep knowing his living-room looks like a salvage yard. He starts collecting the dishes and taking them to the sink of the kitchen, then coming back to grab the rest.

He is fluffing out the cushions of the sofa by bumping them together when Zoro finally leaves the bathroom, dressed in same sweats he wore last time he was here. Sanji looks up and doesn’t comment on the towel Zoro always leaves on his head after every shower.

 “Took him two tries to fix it,” He says, jutting his chin towards the dilapidated wall, “and he still couldn’t do it.”

Zoro looks at the said prefabricated wall and finds a couple of two-by-fours nailed onto the holes in an x.

Sanji adjusts the pillows on the backrest of the sofa and strains up, his back yelling at him. “At least we’re agreed he wasn’t born for carpentering.” He jokes, now letting out a sigh when his and Zoro’s eyes met, “Let me guess, you want to talk?” He walks away from the sofa. “Can’t sit on that thing anymore, my back is killing me.” Saying so, he gestures with his head, “follow me.”

Zoro follows suit as Sanji walks up to his bedroom and through the door, which is supposed to be protected by a barrier, and Zoro halts outside with a scowl.

“You can come in,” Sanji says on a smile, “it won’t zap you.”

Zoro brings his hand to attest Sanji’s words, and is amazed beyond believe when his hand goes in without getting electrocuted. He walks in altogether and watches as Sanji switches the light of the bedside lamp on and removes the mess he made on his bed to make some room for Zoro to sit

“I figured out the spell when I was looking for something specific back in Dressrosa,” he says, “the barrier originated in the Slavic paganism era, but it’s not very hard to find if you search in the right places.” He finally looks up. “Now,” he says, “sit.”

Zoro sits on the side of the single bed, and Sanji leans back on the headboard, pillows behind his sore back.

“How come I didn’t get zapped?” He points his thumb at the door.

“It’s like a magical phrase, _”_ Sanji shrugs a shoulder as he uses both hands to rub all over his belly, “In order for the barrier to become harmless, a lock and key are needed, in this case: me, the one the spell is protecting, and every other supernatural creature: you.” He gestures at Zoro. “When I give permission to whomever wants to come in, the barrier becomes less effective.”

“Actually sounds a lot more like the vampires who can’t enter houses without an invitation.” The look about his face quickly changes when he changes subjects, “Sanji,” he starts, “about those scars on your chest.”

But Sanji is not really listening, he could, be he doesn’t want to.

“J,” Zoro calls to get the other’s attention. “I’m talking.”

Sanji groans, “You really can’t read the mood.”

Zoro frowns.

“I’ll simplify things for you,” The blond says as he sits up, attempting to kneel on the bed despite the added weight around his middle, “The house is finally empty, and we’re on my bed, just the two of us and you can’t tell how turned on I am?”

Zoro says nothing to that.

Sanji crawls his way to Zoro’s lap, straddling it like he did back at the clearing, “And all you want to do is talk, and talk, and talk.” He glides his lips up along Zoro’s neckline and right to his jaw line, action slow and tempting. “Use your nose, Zoro, do I smell like I’m up for a lecture?” He wonders with plump lips nibbling at Zoro’s bottom lip, their breaths fanning on each other. “Don’t think so, Zoro, you know why?”

Zoro’s dangerous eyes are on his.

Sanji snakes his tongue out to lick along Zoro’s bottom lip, “because I’m so horny right now, so turned on for you. I don’t hear anything else beyond how hot the look in your eyes is making me feel and how I want you to take me right here, right now, make a mess out of me...”

That stoic face Zoro has managed to keep since he walked in falters and gets replaced by the eager eyes that have been lusting after his mate. He would have done Sanji on the coffee table and wouldn’t have even cared if they had an audience had it not been for the fact that he puts Sanji’s wishes above everything else. But now, none of that matters. His mate is coming undone for him, sweet and erotic; the way he knows it would arouse Zoro without much of physical contact.

Zoro wraps his arms one behind the small of Sanji’s back and the other behind his head to pull him in, and he collides their lips together.

Zoro was right, Sanji thinks, at least manages to because his mind is on a higher cloud and he doesn’t even know what one plus one is anymore. But yes, he was right about the kissing thing: this is different from the innocent pecks they had back at the field, and while that was sweet and lovely, this is more fitting for his current mood because, oh fuck, he is so turned on. Having Zoro sit on his bed for the first time after two years of knowing each other, it is just so wonderful.

Sanji moans wantonly into the kiss, loving how Zoro is securing his balance between his arms. And the kiss, oh God, Sanji is getting drunk to his head by the way Zoro is kissing him long and deep. The soft groans they make, eager for more. Zoro’s hand suddenly slides to the curve of Sanji’s back, and down to his tailbone and then to his rim. He tucks two fingers towards the hole, pushing the fabric in with the force. Sanji pulls away from the kiss to let out a soft moan. Zoro nibbles at his jaw, his fingers still teasing the hole.

“That’s a sweet little moan, Sanji.” He chuckles, “getting so worked up from just a kiss.”

Sanji, if he can, he wants to close his eyes and put Zoro’s dirty talk on replay. He buckles against those fingers and groans at the strain; it’s not as easy as it used to be with no pregnancy. “Zoro …” the name is lustfully uttered, “I want you, now, Zoro …”

Zoro rumbles, “The way you call my name with that purring voice is fucking irresistible,” there’s gruffness in his voice edging dangerously with wolfish greed. His fingers pull out only to slip under the waistband and beneath the clothing, finally touching the puckered skin. “I’m dying to feel you twitching on me,” he breathes out. “Want to feel me inside you, J?” he urges, “want me to give it to you?”

Sanji nods vehemently, hands stroking short mane as though he wants to mark his mate. “I want it.” He makes an open-mouthed moan as Zoro slides his finger into the tightness, causing his flesh to part open. “I can’t wait any longer,” he lets out a broken little whine, “My head is all weird… I don’t –I want it now.”

“Touch mine, J, make it slick.” Zoro instructs, “Do it good and you might get what you want.”

One of Sanji’s hands slides under Zoro’s boxers, cupping the premature erection tucked inside, causing Zoro to hiss. And as he tries to will his fingers to move and make Zoro harder, the latter adds another finger in that has Sanji arching and shuddering a little. His own fingers recur finally, rubbing Zoro’s shaft and sighing contentedly at the feeling of hot precum spilling down his cold fingers.

“You sound so happy.” Zoro sucks a spot on Sanji’s neck, the spot he usually bites, “You know that’s going inside you after this, gonna thrust in your wet tight hole in and out until you come so hard from your ass.” He groans at the impossible anticipation, adding another finger and reveling at how the flesh is stretching for him.

Sanji’s mind is completely blank by now as he enjoys the squelching coming from his ass, "Shove your big cock in my horny hole,” He keens, the precum coming from his own cock is slowly soaking his pants. “Do it over and over until you’ve filled me up with your cum…”

“Don’t say cute things now,” Zoro warns on a smirk, “The other guy might take the wheel from here and I won’t get to have my sweet time with you.”

Sanji, in a moment of awareness, wakefulness, call it what you want, he realizes the things he’s just said and what’s his hand is doing. He stills completely. Zoro mistakes it for a different feeling because all Sanji’s been talking about is wanting to be filled. He pulls his fingers from the less-tight entrance and pins Sanji down on the pillows very gently, mounting him. Sanji tries to ignore what his memory is bringing afloat; Zoro doesn’t deserve to be treated like he’s the cause of every other thing and today’s accident is the big freaking warning. But, Sanji can’t help the emergence of the image he kept seeing in his nightmares at the very first few months of leaving town, the image of a red-eyed wolf, topping his helpless body and pushing claws long as a knife to the open, and then slicing Sanji’s chest.

Zoro leans onto his mate with this wickedly determined face to kiss his neck, but all Sanji sees is the big red-eyed wolf from his nightmares ducking down with his fangs bare. The same sensation of helplessness and sheer horror resurfaces with the image, and Sanji is soon pushing Zoro off him.

“Stop…” he pleads in a small voice, “I can’t do it. Stop…”

Zoro lingers there, hovering over him with a crease on his forehead.

Sanji tries to shoot from the bed, but Zoro’s hand brings him back, and Sanji yelps. “Don’t touch me!”

Zoro immediately lets go of his mate, giving him the space he wants.

Sanji sits on the bed, rests his back on the headboard and scrubs his pale face with his shaky hands, eventually sighing heavily like he’s been oxygen deprived for so long. “I’m sorry.” He rasps out, “I just… I’m not in the mood anymore.”

Zoro sits back, cross-legged, and tags at the hem of his shirt to hide his erection. “It’s okay.” He says, “We’ll get you used to it, it’s no big deal.”

Sanji peeks at the swell in Zoro’s crotch, “I’m not in the mood but it’s cruel to leave you like this.”

Zoro chuckles, “It’s not a permanent thing,” he says, “will go down on its own.”

Despite his smile, Zoro’s darkness was rising like a wave. It’s not something he can so readily talk about to his mate when Sanji has just shown blatant fear and recoiled from him.

“Is it okay if I sleep here though?” Zoro wonders, “I don’t wanna walk like this, I have a reputation to uphold.”

Sanji, against his better judgment, ends up barking a pathetic laugh. “Sure,” he says.

He pulls the quilt from the corner of the bed as Zoro tucks himself behind his mate, they settle under the quilt with Sanji switching off the lamp and then adjusting his body between Zoro’s arms.

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dedicated to coco42 ~ I don't know what kind of witchery that was, but it worked ;D

 

 

A calloused hand roams about the pregnant belly, fondling and appreciating what’s enveloped inside. Sanji lies there, reveling in the sensation with his droopy eyes on the translucent window glass.  
He is wrapped by Zoro’s marble arms, touch warmer than the sheets tangled round his unclothed legs. The ungenial morning rain outside picks up pace, washing everything down with a touch of chilly steam coming off the tarred roads and the woods, enlivening in its awake.

Zoro buries his face in the hollow of Sanji’s neck –his center of peace, his home, allowing his hand to wander over Sanji’s belly, touching, and touching. Even if it is still never enough, especially after a year of no physical contact when werewolves –a particular snarky werewolf to be more precise– has already imprinted on Sanji the first time he saw him. He is going to need a double worth of touching to make up for the lost time, and Sanji, just as he is right now, will have to bear with it. Although, Zoro has to say, Sanji looks like he really likes it.

Sanji feels his mate’s lips and the tip of his nose ghosting along his neckline, and he purrs –freaking  _purrs_ – and settles perfectly between Zoro’s arms.

Somehow, they decided they didn’t really feel like leaving the bed yet. Zoro would be forced to leave to work anyway and Sanji would have nothing to do by himself but stay home since the weather isn’t really calling up for any strolls down the neighborhood. And staying like this: drowning in each other’s warmth after months of waking up without the other in the next side of the bed, it seems like the perfect thing to do.

It’s simply fulfilling.

 

“Those are your parents in the photo?” Zoro wonders, his voice clear and deep in the silence. He’s really considered asking Sanji this since last night but, well, a couple of things were going on. But now that he is having his mate cradled between his arms, he concludes that it is safe to.

Sanji looks up at the photo frame on the bedside table, dimmed by the scarce morning light, and he nods.

Zoro’s chin digs into Sanji’s shoulder, and he lets out a wistful sigh. “Sometimes” he starts, voice falling smoky on Sanji’s ear, “I wonder how it’d feel if I’d still introduce myself to them as your mate.”

Because he can’t, not with both of Sanji’s parents deceased.

Sanji takes a moment to let it sink in: the fact that Zoro actually thinks of stuff like this. Then, he wraps his arms around his belly and tries to turn over, straining a little at the exertion. He finally faces Zoro, keen eyes on his. Sanji’s richly golden bangs slide to the side, spilling on the pillow. “If they were still alive they’d probably give you the look,” he sneers, “because ‘mate’ is a little too animal kingdom amongst fangless people.”

Zoro scoffs, his hand glides towards Sanji’s lower back, just ghosting. “Fine,” he says, a little irefully, his tone playful nonetheless. “Boyfriend then,” he blurts out, “too corny for my liking, but so are you.”

Sanji crinkles his nose, showing blunt disagreement. “Labeling it won’t change a thing,” he says, lifting his hands off his belly to slide them up Zoro’s chest, right to his neck. His alluring eyes on Zoro’s deep-set, compelling eyes. “Won’t change the fact that you’re the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with, and it certainly doesn’t change the fact that you’re the only one I’ve ever been in love with.”

The redness in Zoro’s eyes twirls like a wind turbine in the face of a storm, but despite the fierce color, the look in them is enthralled with Sanji –no, he looks like he is absolutely enamored with Sanji.  

“So my parents –if they were still here, they’d welcome you with open arms,” Sanji says on a daftly charming smile, “They’d still give you the look though” –he shrugs slightly– “for going out with a dork like me.”

Zoro cant’s stop himself from laughing at that, “which you really are.”

“Not helping,” Sanji reproaches on a laugh of his own. “Speaking of which, Ren is still sleeping –because I’d do without the kicking, thank you very much– but I still need to feed Vivi.”

Zoro ruffles his own hair, his action lethargic. “Yeah,” he breathes out, “I should head to the bank, too. Kuina will probably have my head if I’m late again.”

“What do you wanna have for breakfast?” Sanji asks, straining to sit up and Zoro quickly helps, sitting up beside Sanji who suddenly smirks impishly, “’Lemme guess, something raw?”

“What,” Zoro jokes along, “you have a deer in your fridge to offer?”

Sanji parts his lips to retort but nothing really makes its way out, and he narrows his eyes guilelessly at the other as Zoro flings a false derogatory smirk –which, son of a bitch, looks so good on him– to his direction while leaving the bed, making his way to the door.

“I’m not gonna get zapped if I get out, am I?”

Sanji’s eyes glint with something wicked as he lies back on the headboard, hands rubbing his belly. “Who knows?”

Zoro arches a brow at him, “Am I?”

“Dunno,” Sanji’s chest heaves a sigh, “I kinda want to keep you locked in here,” he says, “wanna see if its works?”

“Look,” Zoro says on a barely contained sneer, “There’s a difference between loving someone and going all psycho ‘boyfriend’ on them.” He provokes, air-quoting and all, “you aren’t gonna stalk me after I leave here, are you?”

Sanji shows a smile that Zoro, for all dear life, can’t interpret.

“You said that I’m ought to act a little more selfish,” Sanji reminds, jauntily.  “While the ‘locking you here’ part was a joke, I still won’t deny that a part of me wants all of you to myself alone, just me.”

Zoro’s lips part at Sanji’s enigmatic response, and at pretty much all the things he’s been saying since the beginning of this morning, the words Zoro, as well as Sanji, knows well he could never say out loud. Zoro beholds the scene of Sanji sitting on the bed, leaning back on the headboard, his bed hair sticking to all directions, his hands caressing his belly dotingly, and Zoro’s heart suddenly tightens: what if this, all of it, is evanescent?

Zoro is a practical man.

While demureness was in the process of becoming his most dominant trait, he knows the man on that bed is corporeal. He also knows he is sentient. Feelings are involved. But what he doesn’t know –or didn’t– was Sanji harboring these intense feelings for him, and him alone. Heck, Sanji just admitted to never having falling in love with someone else but Zoro, and damn it, he didn’t want to, but Zoro was really trying hard to control himself not to jump his mate and ruin the moment. He actually succeeded because Sanji isn’t limping –even happily cracking jokes now, but Zoro wonders what Sanji’s reaction would be if he turns around, gets on the bed and pushes Sanji down. Kuina can rant on all day for all he cares.

None of that physical contact was enough, he knows now, and he wonders if Sanji wants more like he does.

But then again, last night’s incident, and the claw marks…

“Don’t look at me like that.” Sanji cuts off the silence.

Zoro veers off his thoughts and studies the expression on Sanji’s face: the blush thinning out over his cheeks, the strands curtaining half of his face because he has it dipped down, and the fucking way he tucks his hair behind his ear, all bashful… Zoro could explode in his pants right here and now, and he wouldn’t care if Sanji either rebukes him or laughs at him. Sanji is fucking gorgeous like that.

“I’ll drop by later,” Zoro says out of the blue, “Rob’s shift ends around three. We can head to his around that time?”

Sanji frowns, leaves the bed entirely and walks up to Zoro, “That’s really not what I had on mind.”

“This is not a debate.” That’s all Zoro offers. “And then we can do what  _you_  had on mind.”

Sanji nods emphatically, “You’re pretty hot when you act all bossy.”

Zoro scoffs, “unlike you with a rat’s nest for hair.” He says and switches to look at the door, “now, am I gonna get zapped or what?”

“Nah,” Sanji rubs his nape, cracking the leftover of sleep. “Getting in is the issue,” he says, “But once you’re in, you can easily get out.”

Zoro nods, appreciating Sanji for finally quitting playing around because he needs to get ready to leave for work. He makes his way to the bathroom. Sanji ambles to the place Vivi sleeps on, finding her lounging on her pillow.

“Morning Vivi,” he chirps, ruffling her fur, “you hungry?”

 _“Starving, actually.”_ Vivi admits, “ _Wouldn’t mind some peanut butter.”_

Sanji straightens up and gives her a look, “Jesus,” he sighs bitterly, “that reminds me of my pregnancy cravings.”

 _“Those were some dark times, Sanji,”_  Vivi says, “ _you’re over it_.”

“I am.” Sanji says on a broad smile, heading to the fridge. “I’m over a lot of things, V, and perhaps we should stop bringing those times up, it’s all in the past.” He comes back to her with the peanut butter she wanted.

 

The door to the bathroom opens and Zoro walks out looking fresh and already dressed. Sanji quickly fetches his coat for him and helps him slide it on his shoulders, and then Zoro turns around, his hand coming up to cup Sanji’s cheek.

“Get ready around three, okay?” He reminds, now pecking lightly on Sanji’s other cheek, “See ya later.”

“Wait, Zoro” Sanji’s hand comes up to clasp the man’s wrist, “about last night…” he trails off, and Zoro remains silent –because, heck yeah, he wants to know what that was about– Sanji scratches his temple, “Let’s try again, tonight?”

Zoro’s head tilts and he smiles fondly, “endearing, I swear.” He said before pressing his lips on Sanji’s, and his hands on either side of his face, kissing him deeply. When he pulls away, the drunken expression on Sanji’s face is a thing of praise. Zoro knows if he lingers, he’ll be thrusting into Sanji in the hallway and he isn’t sure Sanji will appreciate that. He leans forward to kiss Iskren as well.

With a crooked smirk, Zoro leaves the apartment.

 

 

After Zoro left, Sanji attempted to sneak back to his bed but a bag beside the sofa, lying askew on its side –the bag Zoro brought last night, it just piqued his curiosity. And who said Zoro isn’t so suave? The five packs of moisturizers, hair conditioners, aftershave creams and balms, and other things Sanji will need to read their fonts and leaflets to see their use, they sure make Zoro sound like a thoughtful lover. Sanji’s heart warms up at the thought of Zoro eavesdropping –which the werewolf will deny and censor with ‘overhearing’ because that’s how proud he is– and then going out of his way to buy all those.

Speaking of which, last night didn’t really go as Sanji had planned, not that he really planned it out because once Zoro sat on his bed, Sanji’s entire body started to feel this strange heat spreading through it. But although he did feel that way, something inside his brain disagreed. He doesn’t know whether his reaction was caused by a certain memory –getting clawed by someone you love isn’t a stroll in the park, or what. He is just hoping this night will be different because, for his baby’s sake, he has to make it work.

 

 

One in the afternoon meets Sanji with a delivery guy –and not just anyone, mind you– the pompous ass, who had the freaking gall to belittle Sanji the other day in the car, is standing at his threshold. Sanji first considers slamming the door shut because he doesn’t want to have anything to do with imperious assholes who think they possess the right to categorize others as though they’re brands of wine on a shelf, but then he stalls a little to see what the guy is here for.

“Lunch”

Sanji’s brow shoots to the roof, “lunch?”

The other shows him the two bags in his hand, “lunch.”

Okay, so he wasn’t trying to be a smartass. Sanji gets that. “Zoro made you do this?”

The guy jams his head to the side because, somehow, it seems like if he looks more at Sanji it’d burn his eyes, the nerves! What’s his name anyway, Sa douche Sha. And why is Zoro sending him again after Sanji expressly told him not to because of the headache it gives him being so close to a werewolf. Not to mention the more condescending the werewolf is, the duller the pain is. And, God, the world can’t handle more of those. Ronoa Zoro is fucking enough.

“I volunteered.” Not very asseverate now, Sasha. The words are delivered in a sepulchral tone. He is still holding the bags up, by the way, and his eyes are still casted elsewhere. Say, why does Sanji dislike him again?

“Oh, I can just see how amped you are to see me.” Sanji scoffs, sardonically.

“I did.” Sasha finally looks at Sanji, barely though, seems like the douche is angling for his spiky ponytail to get torched to a crisp. What’s with the attitude? “Now, are you going to take these or shall I return them?”

Attitude, you bovine lummox –because the F-bomb would be too tasteless for his sake… man, this is getting old.

Sanji snatches the bags from the other’s hand and gives a blank stare. He beholds Sasha for a silent moment before he walks inside and flings a ‘come in’ over his shoulder. The other soon follows suit, knocking his shoes off by the door and walking in, not even excusing the intrusion. Where was he raised, in a barn? Sanji places the take-outs on the coffee table and ushers the young man scanning his humble apartment to the spot next to him.

“Unfortunately for you, spikes boy, this is the only sofa I have here” –he smirks at the other– “scared to share?”

“I’m not scared of you.” There’s enough insolence in there for it to sound childish.

Sanji taps the spot next to his and smiles thinly at the other, who flinches visibly at the action and eyes that aforementioned spot with wary eyes.

“So you’re that fur ball’s henchman or something?” Sanji wonders loudly as he rummages inside the bags for the sort of food Zoro sent him; seems like the new restaurant in town is hording quite the bucks in its safe.

“Fur ball?” Sasha echoes, standing tall in his place with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Yeah,” Sanji tosses him a quick glance, but that juicy meat looks freaking delicious and that’s all the attention the kid is going to get for now. “Zoro.”

“You shouldn’t disrespect him like that.” Sasha defends, brows furrowing slightly.

“Oh, this is delicious, you sure you don’t want it?” Sanji sighs wistfully, cheeks puffy with portions of juicy meat; he also gives Vivi some.

“I’m nobody’s henchman, and Mr. Ronoa is not a fur ball,” Sasha insists, “You can’t call him that again.”

“Fine,” Sanji acquiesces, “I’ll eat it then.” And true to his word, he dumps copious amounts of meat into his mouth and moans at the taste.

Sasha unclasps his hands and shoots closer to the sofa Sanji is occupying, “I can’t believe you!” he frets, “Mr. Ronoa is even sending me to get you food and you badmouth him in his back?”

“I thought you said you volunteered?” Sanji feigns surprise, and incredulously narrows his eyes at the other.

“I did!” Sasha fumes.

“But you’ve just said Zoro s–”

“I know what I said!” Sasha cuts him off, face drowning in red and eyes widening with unfathomable anger.

Vivi slowly sits up, crouching like a predator as she snarls deeply at the werewolf. Dear, she doesn’t play around when it comes to Sanji’s safety.

“None of that werewolf temper, young man.” Sanji advises. “My apartment already looks like the Hall of Fame with all the holes on the wall, so keep your shirt on.”

“Whatever.” Sasha bites out after he reins in his anger.

Vivi also relaxes and lies down on her pillow.

“If you have nothing else to say” –Sanji starts, eyes returning to the food– “you can leave.”

Sasha stomps his way out, slips into his shoes and walks out, slamming the door shut behind.

Sanji looks up from his food, lips curving into a satisfied smile.

 

Around three in the afternoon, he receives a text from Zoro that reads:

[I’m waiting by the gate.]

Sanji is fast after that as he dons his coat over a coral oversized sweater, grabs his tote bag and lets Vivi be because unlike them, she really isn’t appreciating the weather today, and napping sounds like a better idea.

Outside, Sanji finds Zoro inside his car, waiting like he said he was. Sanji gets in after he dashes under the rain with his bag overhead. The air-con is working on blast and the heat is something Sanji appreciates after getting a taste of the stabbing wind whooshing outside.

“Hey,” he says, tossing his bag to the back seat and now leaning forward to give Zoro a light kiss on his cheek. “Vivi isn’t coming so it’s just us.”

Zoro nods distinctly, a hand on the wheel as he starts the car.

“By the way,” Sanji reminds, and when Zoro looks over at him, Sanji smacks him on the head until he grunts, “Told you not to send a werewolf to my place, you had it coming.”

“He brought you food, didn’t he?” Zoro whines, eyes fleetingly on the road and back on Sanji’s.

“He also brought his attitude,” Sanji counters, “and I’d have cooked something if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Look, Sasha can be” –Zoro winces for the word he wants– “a little too much.”

“You think?” Sanji interjects with a scoff.

“But he’s a good kid.” Zoro assures with an air of finality.

Sanji’s eyes follow the wiper blades in their metrical wave, before he looks away altogether. “Yeah,” he says, looking out the window at his side, “he is.”

“What,” the Alpha prompts “did you two have another fight or something?” he inquires, impish in his tone.

Sanji looks back at Zoro with his head lying on the headrest. “’Nothing that a fur ball like you needs to worry about,” he grins. “Is the pack coming over to yours tonight?”

“It’s not a school night but they’re still dealing with exams,” he tells him, “Why’re you asking though?”

“Just asking,” Sanji shrugs slightly, “Ren kinda likes them gobs.”

Zoro smiles, “He is already part of the pack it seems.”

“Which reminds me,” Sanji’s head lifts off the seat, “I’ve always wondered, is he going to be a werewolf like you?”

Zoro nods to Sanji’s swollen tummy, “Is he awake?”

Sanji shakes his head.

“What do _you_  think?” Zoro drives towards a different lane that leads to the town’s infirmary.

“Hard to tell,” Sanji sighs, his eyes now follow the road Zoro’s taken, “but there’s a ninety nine percent chance that he’s going to be a regular human.”

“What makes you say that?” Zoro asks. His voice mellow despite the incredulous tone.

“Because” –Sanji looks back at him– “the Imugi needs a new environment to grow, and my best guess is that he’ll try to seal himself inside Ren which, in return, will defuse any chance of him having your werewolf genes.”

“He can do that?” Zoro’s eyes go wide.

“In order to do that, he needs my help to transform the seal to Ren, and that’s something I can’t see myself doing in the near future, or  _ever_ , for that matter.” Sanji says, defiantly. “So I don’t know anymore.”

“Okay,” Zoro breathes out, “Let’s suppose it doesn’t come to that, what do you think he’s gonna be?”

“If your genes develop naturally, then I assume he’ll be a werewolf?” Sanji guesses, “can you tell if he’s an Alpha or not at the first day of birth?”

“No.” Zoro shakes his head; frowns as the infirmary’s neon sign finally coming into view. “That’s something that can’t be determined until pups reach a certain age, and only then can they present Alpha, beta or omega.”

“Can’t he be an Alpha? I mean  _you_  are.” He motions at said Alpha.

“You aren’t.” Zoro deadpans. “Alphas are born to two Alpha parents, but in our case, even if I’m a born Alpha, there is still a possibility for Ren to present Beta, or even Omega.” Saying so, he finally stops the car by the entrance.

“Kuina said that Omegas are the conceivers,” Sanji says after a pause, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

“Omegas have the ability to pass down the genes thus keeping our kin from going extinct.” He replies, “They’re not allowed to make public appearances, especially during pregnancy. Because, J” –at this he looks at the said man’s eyes– “even male omegas can conceive.”

The things Kuina told him come back to echo in his head, and Sanji suddenly regrets bringing this up. It must be painful for Zoro –and he doesn’t even find the time to feel the brunt of shock for knowing male werewolves can get pregnant. The horrifying possibility that if Zoro did rut any of those Omegas who came flying at the first of his mating calls to breed and ended impregnating one of them, is just too much to even sound real. But, when did that smirk appear on Zoro’s lips? Last time Sanji looked, his lover was scowling.

“Ever since I changed, I’ve become able to feel things others can’t. Hear, sense and smell things no other Alpha can. I’ve become so connected to nature that it’s enabled me to know things no one should, or can.” Zoro says, unbuckling his seatbelt and then he slants to Sanji’s ear, hot breath on neck making Sanji shudder. Then he says in his dulcet voice “He is an Alpha.”

Sanji whips his head to his, voice breathy “You mean it?”

Zoro’s nose is ghosting over Sanji’s, incandescent eyes on his. “I do.”

Sanji is a little too overcome by emotions to have an instant reaction, but as Zoro nuzzles his cheek with his nose, he finally moves to wrap his arms around Zoro’s neck with his lips seeking the other’s. His hands slowly slide up to the Alpha’s head to tag at the smooth locks of hair.

Zoro kisses him back, knowing oh all too well how Sanji likes kissing.

What makes this too emotional for Sanji is “He won’t have to carry my burdens for me, Zoro” he laugh-cries. “Though he might turn out as awkward as you, but, if it means he won’t have anything to do with the Imugi then I can deal with two of you.”

Zoro clings to this moment of physical contact that Sanji is offering with his arms wide open because, lately, even those seem too seldom. He pecks lights kisses to Sanji’s temple and his hair, and then he nods, “He’ll be our strong Alpha son, magic free.” He says, dotingly.

But it’s always when they’re immersed in something that something decides to interrupt, and Zoro wonders if it’s a curse because his phone vibrates right freaking then. Sanji unhooks his hands and returns one to his belly and the other to his lips. Zoro turns around to snatch the phone from the holder, and he finds that it’s Dr. Lucci calling.

“I’m here.” That’s all he says before he falls silent for a long minute, and then he lets out a fuming sigh. The doctor starts talking again, and after another pause, Zoro rolls his eyes. “I get it.” He says, wearily. “If this happens again” he is about to make a threat –nothing good if you’re playing around with a touch-starved werewolf, but the other cuts him off and Zoro is soon ending the call without listening to any ramblings. He tosses the phone somewhere over the dashboard before he sags back in his seat, a hand coming up to scrub his face. “Change of plans.”

Sanji presses his lips and shifts his head a little, “Really? What happened to Rob?” he asks, “you practically dragged me all the way here.”

“Yeah well,” Zoro throws a hand in the air, irefully. “He’s not the sort of guy to keep a promise. This is not the first time he stood me up,” he rubs his nape, “I should’ve seen it coming.”

“It’s not like I was looking forward to getting probed anyway, Zoro.” He confesses, his well-modulated voice coaxing the anger away from Zoro’s  _veins_. “All I really want is to spend this afternoon with you. We can just sit here in the car and it wouldn’t matter, except the location. That amaranth neon sign is really starting to grate on my nerves.”

Zoro scoffs with his lips curling puckishly. His eyes wander somewhere over the steering wheel, and Sanji is gaping at him like an idiot. Zoro then nods and slowly repositions himself on the seat, starts the engine and gets the car moving.

 

The local ready-to-assemble furniture and house-wares market is open and a few cars are already lined in the parking lot. It’s a rainy day so not many people opt for an open shower these days. Come on, walking under the rain is totally romantic. Except when you end up drenched down to where the sun doesn’t shine. That bit is just so unromantic.

Zoro and Sanji scramble their way in, chuckling once they’re inside and gawked at by surprised staff members and clients. Sanji flickers his wrists to spray the raindrops from both his hands, his eyes scanning the interior and the unending rows of aisles and the sea of fluorescent light bulbs: It’s going to be a long day.

 

 

“What about this?” Zoro asks after lifting a dream-catcher for Sanji’s eyes to behold.

Sanji inspects the item and rolls his eyes, “Put it back” he says, now turning his attention to the fabric of the wall paper he’s been staring at for a good couple of minutes. “Let’s focus on the essentials first, okay?”

“Shouldn’t we let someone else handle it?” Zoro puts the flamboyant-looking item back on the shelf and skids to another item. “I mean we have no experience in nursery designs and we don’t even have any planned layouts. Are we even sure we know what we’re doing?”

“I’m having a hard time vacillating between paint and wallpaper.” Sanji narrows his eyes, “haven’t even inspected the room you talked about.” He turns around to face the other who is poking at a novel-looking jewelry box. “What kind of flooring does it have?”

Zoro’s shoulder slump and he lets out a small sigh, “Sanji, look, I’ll get someone on this. You don’t have to worry, and if you want, you’ll get to pick the crib, the changing table and everything else, including any other color scheme you want for the walls.”

Sanji’s bottom lip pouts, “But I want to do this together.”

“I know,” Zoro scoots closer to him, loving the endearing trait that doesn’t get shown only when it’s just them two, and the latter is in the mood to be spoiled by his lover. “But this is something that requires time and is planned out earlier, and you’re at the beginning of your trimester, even arranging to give birth at the end of this month. We do not have time.” He said in his melodious tone. “Just, let’s scan what you want and keep it in the stock until the nursery is ready.”

A lively giggle is heard and the two men spin their heads to the source: a little kid, six or five year old, cute enough to become an exhibit in this witch cavern, smothered with a lot of attention from his parents, is coming dashing in the aisle they’re currently occupying, shouting ‘I want this! I want this!’ to his young parents who laugh at his choice of décor which is the same dream-catcher Zoro was admiring not a moment ago. They watch in earnest how the father pulls his child up and says something about how a toy firefighter truck would suit a ‘man’ such as himself, and the mother chuckles sweetly at the bonding, and very soon, they take another turn, leaving only echoes of their talk behind.

Sanji looks at Zoro, who looks back at him, at his belly and then back into his eyes again.

Zoro charges at him so swiftly that Sanji’s breath hitches a little late because, next thing he knows, Zoro’s face is right on his, always too fast. Him invading Sanji’s space shouldn’t come as a surprise, really, they’ve been in each other’s relative vicinity before. Being  _really_  close with each other is not exactly a new, but this is a little too mortifying. Hey, okay, they kissed before in front Kuina and Mrs. Ronoa and a few dozen of spectators back at the court. They were caught kissing by the pack once. Frank and Law even interrupted something that was steering to the realm of promised toe-curling orgasms. However, this is different. They’re in a public place and in case Zoro hasn’t noticed, there are CCTV cameras all over.

But damn it…

Sanji should be smarter than this. He knows he can’t say no to Zoro when the guy is doing that thing with his lips and tip of his nose. Sanji’s neck pings a reverberant shudder and it soon sends its resonance all over his body. He parts his fingers and Zoro twines his with Sanji’s.

Alright, so maybe Sanji knows where this sudden itch to cuddle is coming from. Soon, they’re going to hold their baby in their hands and no longer look longingly at each passing family and wish deep down they could have what they have. At least, this is Sanji’s part of the story.

He lets out a surprised chuckle when Zoro nibbles at the line of his jaw, “someone might see us.” He complains but allows Zoro to have this playground all to himself; hands squeezing one another, pressing and pulling.

“So?” Zoro dares, sexy voice vibrating on Sanji’s cheek until he fucking moans.

“They’d kick us out.” Sanji says, barely, he is slowly drowning beyond a haze so comfortable.

Zoro shrugs and leads his lips to Sanji’s, “They can try.”

The kiss at first is languid. Sanji opens his eyes and finds that Zoro is staring back at him. They smile dopily at each other and kiss again.

Well, who could have seen this coming: scary Alpha werewolf, with a scowl for a trademark trait, snuggling amorously with his mate in public?

 

 

“Remove the chains of time and space. And by the power of the holy grace” –Sanji reads off the faded writing on a ceramic vase’s underside– “release thee and settle in my place?” he looks around to locate Zoro but the man is like a kid on Christmas morning, too immersed in pointing the barcode scanner at the items on the shelves he deems interesting to really pay attention to what Sanji is trying to show him. Sanji shakes his head dejectedly and looks at the vase in his hand again. He scowls. “Why do these lines sound so familiar?” and just then, the twin vase on the shelf tips over and lands down on the glossy tiles, shattered to pieces. Sanji has watched the action like a slow motion, but it was too fast for him to react.

The shattering sound attracts everyone’s attention and, soon, several pairs of eyes are on him, including Zoro’s, as Sanji stands motionless with a vase still in hand.

Crap…

“Sir?” a plump female clerk with bouncy boobs and wavy hair approaches him.

Oh,  _crap!_

For some reason, Sanji can’t let go of the vase he has in hands. He reels his face to the retailer and finds that others are peeking at him and at the mess he’s just made. His eyes meet Zoro’s, but the man actually rolls his wearily.

The market’s middle-aged manager is soon rushing to the scene with the long sleeves of his dress shirt rolled up to his elbows, and black trousers flapping at his pace, a name tag reading ‘Ben Tham’ dangling over his chest. “What is the situation?”

Zoro smirked at his mate after the rescue call he sent him by operating his imploring eyes, and he turned around and left the scene to scan other items. Sanji should learn how to be more responsible after this lesson.

“Hello, I’m the manager here, you can call me Ben.” The man says, now motioning to the female clerk from before to bring him a notepad and a pen. “Can you tell me what happened here?”

“It fell on its own.” Is the first thing that leaves Sanji’s mouth, and they hear a burst of laughter coming from Zoro.

The few people who rounded them are now ogling at Ronoa Zoro, the town’s Adam the Beast, shopping leisurely in a place like this. Sanji curses him for laughing at his predicament.

The manager lifts a sharp brow, “it fell on its own?”

All Sanji hears is ‘are you trying bull-shitting me, young man?’ and he doesn’t even have the balls to answer. He only nods.

“Sir,” the manager speaks, icy tone speaking of his impatience, “read the sign on the head of the shelf.”

Sanji does, ‘you break it you buy it’. Wow, this keeps getting better and better!

“You understand that this is a very expensive piece of merchandise and thus you’re required to compensate us.” He says, scribbling down on his notepad.

“But I didn’t break it.” Sanji insists. Another fervent glance to the price of the vase makes his throat go dry, ‘135 dollars?’ It’s a fucking vase, not the Holy Grail!

“Let’s be grown-ups about this,” the manager smiles lightly, a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes which tells Sanji the man is having it up to over his head already and dealing with someone as troublesome as him isn’t something the man’s been looking up to after waking up this morning. “We can head to my office to discuss payment for damage.”

“I’m not gonna pay you a dime.” Sanji bellows.

Zoro sighs heavily and returns to Sanji’s side, “Put the damn vase down first, J.”

Sanji quickly follows the order and glances fleetingly at the man veiled with an aura of annoyance.

“Mr. Ronoa?” the manager’s face lightens up and his eyes glint. Sanji rolls his eyes dramatically at the scene; it’s too fucking redundant, okay? “It’s so good to see you in our market. Would you like any assistance?” he ushers at a couple of his clerks, “I want you two to accompany this man and help him with anything he wants, understand?”

“There’s no need for that.” Zoro offers, “It seems my partner here has caused some inconvenience?”

The manager’s face tightens a little, “Oh you see, we have a strict policy here,” his eyes look from Zoro to Sanji, and then back to Zoro, “clients are responsible for any breakage, accidental or not.”

“But I didn’t break anything!” Sanji bawls.

“Sanji, quiet.” Zoro demands, eyes low and steady, “how much?”

The manager takes a look at his notepad, mumbles a few numbers and recites some calculations, “98 dollars.” He concludes.

Which is still a lot for just a freaking vase!

“Alright,” Zoro says, “Just add it to the items scanned here.” He hands the barcode scanner to one of the clerks, but before she could touch it, Sanji snatches it from them.

“We’re not paying for anything.” He glowers at Zoro who glowers back, “I didn’t drop the vase, didn’t knock it by accident,” he enunciates, “didn’t even touch the damn thing!”

“ _Sanji”_  Zoro breathes out, resignedly.

“No,” he tells him, now facing the manager, “I'd admit to breaking the vase if I did actually break it, but I didn’t. Sorry, but if your stuff is going to be broken by not budgeting for accident damage, you have no business being in business.”

“Just own up to it and let’s get outta here.” Zoro whines, jadedly.

“CCTV,” Sanji prompts, “check the CCTV.”

“Sir, we already have.” The man reasons, “While we were talking, the security staff has been rewinding the CCTV tape and they are certain you dropped the vase.”

At this, Zoro snatches the scanner from Sanji’s hand and gives it to the clerk again, along with a credit card.

 


	4. Chapter 4

 

The silence in the car is just too suffocating.

Sanji doesn’t understand how Zoro’s resolve could be so wavering like that. Having money doesn’t give you an ounce of a right to go about using it unwisely when people out there are starving in wars. With just a few business jargons Zoro would ardently throw his money around, not even caring if it served a purpose. What’s really setting Sanji off the wrong way here, more than anything else really, is Zoro refusing to believe he wasn’t the culprit.

“I didn’t break the vase.” He drones affirmatively, eyes on the windscreen.

“Then who did?” Zoro counters, “Vivi’s ghost?”

Sanji’s head whips to Zoro’s direction, “it wasn’t me, Zoro!”

“You were the only one standing next to that shelf, okay?” the latter sighed, a hand lazily spinning the steering wheel, “Even if I want to believe you, what you’re saying isn’t exactly adding up, and unless there was some imaginary fairy knocking things off, the manager would still pursue your ass to compensate for the breakage. Lawsuit could become an issue and I don’t think any of us opts for that with all things considered.”

Sanji’s only response for now is a huffed sigh. During Zoro’s pretty logical ranting, none of them noticed Sanji’s seatbelt slowly unlatching from the retractor by itself. “So maybe I didn’t read the atmosphere,” Sanji at least admits this much, “but I know what I saw, okay? The vase fell on its own. I swear.” He breathes out, “If they’d just let us take a look at the CCTV tape!”

“Let’s leave it.” Zoro requests, “It’s just a vase anyway.” By the end of his sentence, Zoro’s vision is suddenly dimmed. “Son of a–” he spins the steering wheel to the right, swiveling the cat and almost lands in a ditch, but Sanji stops the disaster by yelling ‘left!’. Zoro steers the wheel to the said direction and then right again, following Sanji’s instructions. Zoro finally stomps on the breaks, causing the car to spin a few times, since rain has saturated the tarred road, before it finally came to a violent halt that sends Sanji lashing forward to the dashboard with his face because there is no belt to keep him immobilized.

The car stills, and the whir of the engine coughs and stills. A few cars honk as they zoom past them and then everything stills again.

Zoro’s sight comes back to him. He blinks a few times and the first thing he casts his eyes on is Sanji because the loud bang he heard could be an indicative that Sanji has gotten himself hurt, again, and just like he expected, Sanji is nursing his forehead with a hand while the other remains wrapped securely around his belly.

“Sanji?” he calls, voice almost quavering.

“Way to send us into a ditch!” Sanji looks up, a long trail of blood spilling down his temple, reclining once it reaches the tip of his left brow. “What the hell was that?”

Zoro considered giving his statement, but as he sees that Sanji isn’t putting his seatbelt on, well, it goes sideways from there. “Why is your seatbelt unbuckled?”

Sanji eyes the retractor and then Zoro’s face, “It…” he starts, “it  _was_  just a few minutes ago.”

Zoro’s face sags and tips to the back a little in a ‘you have got to be kidding me’ sort of gesture.

“It was!” Sanji roars, and immediately winces when the ache makes his head ring.

Zoro unfastens his seatbelt and opens the door, rounds the car that is parked in the side of the road and opens Sanji’s door. “Here,” he says, crouching a little so that he is not hovering over the other, “let me see.”

“It’s just a scratch, doesn’t even hurt.” Sanji faces the windscreen, a hand tapping at his wound.

Zoro scrubs his chin in an impatient sign. He dips his head and lets out a sigh before he looks up, “You know I have enhanced hearing, don’t you?” he prompts, “Now stop lying through your teeth and let me see.”

“Could we just get moving already?” Sanji hisses, exasperatedly.

Zoro hesitates at first, torn between leaving Sanji to it or tending to him even if he bites and scratches. Sanji’s hand is shaking. He knows it’s the sudden surge and loss of adrenaline that is making his hands shake but it doesn’t make seeing it less unsettling either. He levers up, looks around at the lengths these lands end at before he looks at his car again, takes out a remote engine starter from his pocket and attempts to bring the engine to life. However, all it does is rev, whir and then cough and stop completely. He tries again for a couple more times but nothing. Even Sanji pushes the ignition switch but the same sequence of noises comes to occur and pass. Zoro, then, is forced to search for the problem under the popped hood of the car, and whilst he’s at it, Sanji seizes the chance to empty his bladder.

Zoro perks from behind the hood. “Where are you going?”

Sanji dodders sideways because the ground is wet and his belly is becoming the center of his gravity. He pauses for a moment to look over his shoulder, “to take a leak” he replies, “Unless you want to watch while I piss?”

Zoro ignores him to examine the problem of the engine.

Sanji finds a spot between a few bushes. He unzips his fly and relaxes as the pressure on his bladder finally ebbs. A glance over his shoulder shows him Zoro talking on his cell-phone. So the car is a goner, again, what, this makes it the third time already that a car Zoro uses buys the farm? And know what, it serves him right. Sanji’s been having a rough afternoon and it wasn’t helping with Zoro sending reproaching glares his side. He really didn’t drop that vase, and he is pretty damn sure he plugged his seatbelt into the retractor after getting into the car. He doesn’t know what is going and why Zoro steered off the road and almost hit a tree, but he is certain something is going on.

And more than anything else, Sanji has to get Zoro on a bed.

They agreed to try again tonight, but with Zoro in that flinty mood of his, well, things aren’t really looking up.

Thing is, Sanji has to get his mate on bed, whether any of them likes it or not. He has to or some dire consequences will be in his tail. Nothing Zoro is in dire need to know now, everything comes in time, right?

The first of the lower abdominal pressure he feels makes him contort his brows, but as the pressure morphs into pain that radiates towards his thighs and knees, Sanji can’t stop himself from letting go of a wince. It quickly stops.

“You didn’t say anything about jerking off!” Zoro says loud enough for it to be uncharacteristic of him.

“Maybe I should!” Sanji counters.

After he returns to the car, using some wet wipes to clean his hands, he asks Zoro to let him in on the condition of the car.

“It’s a mess.” He concludes, “The battery cables are busted, no dipstick, the transmitter is trashed–” he cuts himself off with a sudden deep sigh, “I called Sasha, told him to bring Kuina’s car.”

“Maybe someone did that to your car?” Sanji offers. Well, any word of consolation is consolation enough. “I mean while we were still inside the market?”

Zoro’s phone vibrates and he quickly connects the call, puts the caller on speaker and replaces the phone on the hood as he scans the landscapes and the passing cars.

“Zoro,” Kuina’s voice blasts off, “I heard you were in an accident!”

“That Sasha,” he grits out in a mumble. “Yeah, but we’re fine so don’t worry.”

“ _We?_ ” Kuina echoes, horror evident in her voice.

“Yes, Sanji’s here.”

“Oh my God,” she gasps, “is he okay?” she gushes, worriedly.

 “He got off with a mild head injury.” Zoro reports, now his eyes look at the said injury and he brings his hand to touch it, “He says he’s fine.”

“If there’s a scratch on him” she bites out, threateningly. “Zoro, you won’t get off alive.”

Sanji cocks his head at the man who smirks back at him.

“Did you lose control again?” she asks, her voice is straining as she fumbles around by the sound of it. “Do I have to worry about you tossing your parole to the wind?”

At that, Zoro seizes the phone from the hood with suspicious haste, mutes the speaker and walks farther from Sanji and the car. The latter narrows his eyes at Zoro’s back under the light drizzle fanning down his lashes. The drizzle condenses Zoro’s soft hair, and his broad shoulders. A forlorn back that suits these fogged mountains so perfectly it saddens Sanji.

The things Zoro went through. The pain Sanji keeps inflicting him with, unable to have a good rein on it. But he still goes out of his way to shelter Sanji…

Zoro is a big idiot.

 

By the time Zoro disconnected the call, he felt Sanji’s arms wrapping around his middle, the engorged belly pressing against his back and Sanji’s forehead on his shoulder blades.

“What’s wrong?” Zoro asks on a tender smile.

Sanji nuzzles up against Zoro’s back with his face, “Mm.”

“’Didn’t quite catch that.” Zoro jokes, but when he tries to turn around, Sanji whines.

“I told you before,” he says, doggedly. “Get past it, alright?” he reminds, “so, Zoro, I’ll give you anything, okay? Anything you want, just, please…” he speaks into the condensed fabric and it muffles his voice, “You don’t have to protect me from everything,”

The pause that follows is a little unsettling until Zoro chuckles. “I kind of think I do.” He says, “You’re a troublemaker, J, people like you are put under supervision.”

Sanji scoffs, “You need a hobby.”

Zoro laughs and the other finally allows him to reel around. He looks keenly into Sanji’s eyes, lids fluttering under the gentle tickle of the drizzle, but defiant enough to stare back into his eyes. “I want to protect you, always, Sanji” he admits, “I told you before not to take this away from me. Aside from everything else, this is the thing I fail to do the most, so let me try.”

Sanji grabs the other by the lapses of his coat, “and I told you before, I have my magic you self deprecating bastard, so just stop doing this to yourself!”

The light drizzle becomes more forceful as rain falls down, dominant with its resonating ‘ _shah’_.

Zoro removes his coat, “Do you have any idea how it’s like for me to see you in any kind of pain or danger?” he bellows, droplets of rain splattering out of his mouth and dripping down the tips of his bangs and nose. “So deal with it. I don’t care how you do it, but do it.”  Saying so, he flings the coat over Sanji’s head to shelter him from the cold. “Let’s get you back in the car. I don’t catch colds, you do.”

Sanji’s hands dart forward to hold Zoro by either side of his face, immobilizing him, and before Zoro gets a chance to even speak, Sanji is pressing his lips on the man’s, forceful and reckless and mad. The coat Zoro’s wrapped around him slips to the ground…

Zoro kisses him back, long and deep, like he wants to eat him up.

A car zooms past them and blares off its honk, but none of them cares.

Sanji clings to Zoro with all dear life as the rain drums on the crown of his head and infuriates the kiss. Zoro lowers himself down a little so he can grope Sanji’s ass cheeks with ease, and the latter moans. He clutches at Zoro’s hair, the wet locks tangling with his fingers.

“The car –” he stops short after Zoro lifts his thighs so he can wrap his legs around Zoro, and he grinds, he fucking grinds up against Sanji’s growing erection. “Oh _God_!” he drapes both forearms on either of Zoro’s shoulders and throws his head to the back, baring his neck to the Alpha.

Zoro growls impatiently at the sight, the vibration of his growl reaches Sanji’s cock and it springs up, his toes curling inside his boots at the tickling sensation. Zoro plunges into the fairness inciting him openly. He licks it, his tongue hot on the cold skin, sending recurrent shudders to both of their cocks.

Sanji whimpers wantonly through parted lips.

“You’re gonna make me cum with just your fucking voice.” Zoro rumbles, bringing a hand to frame the back of Sanji’s head, holding him in place as his fangs enlarge and expand, bigger than any time before. But before he could even get to ghost them over the neckline, the rattling of the car moving, sliding on the road and away from them brings him back to why they’re stranded in the middle of the road in the first place. “What the…”

Sanji has looked up when Zoro stilled completely, and he has watched the car move away on its own. “Should I use my magic?”

Zoro puts him down, his fangs shrink back and the trace of his erection shrivels, “don’t,” he says, “wait here for Sasha, and keep your ear on the ground, you hear me?”

Sanji shrugs, playfully.

Zoro runs after the car, but the sudden incline in the road gives the car more momentum and its tires roll faster. Zoro realizes that if he keeps the same pace he won’t catch up to the haunted vehicle almost colliding with the coming cars. He adds speed to his jog, shortening the distance. His eyes catch sight of an old lady in a dotted coat, hiding under a black umbrella twice her size, carrying a bag of apples. She is about to cross the road and she doesn’t notice the car coming at her with such a frightening speed. Zoro leapfrogs even at the threat of getting exposed in front of a lot of spectators, and he lands before the car’s bumper and holds out his hands to clutch the metal, but the force with which the car is pressing against him is heavy and the road is wet, so his feet slides and almost slip. He looks for the alternative and quickly punches the hood down with all his might. The car’s backside lifts up and falls back down with another rattle that breaks the glass of the windows at the brunt of the pressure. The car finally stops and Zoro rounds it to stand at its side doors, he punches it to a ditch with both hands.

“Oh,” the old lady exclaims, “how strong!”

Zoro reels his head to her, shoulders slumping.

The old lady trots away in her walk again, mumbling. “If only I were thirty years younger.”

Zoro shakes his head, “a car almost hit you.” He mumbles back, too bereft for words now to say anything else. He hears a honk as a white Volvo XC60 pulls over, windows rolling down.

 

Sanji is standing dazed, a few more minutes and they’d have been making love in public.

The way Zoro makes him feel: the contradictions conflicting inside his head, the incontinent flames which supplement his desire for Zoro…

One more second and he’d have allowed Zoro to take him.

 

Sanji has waited like he was instructed to, but maybe Zoro should try the feeling of swollen feet and knees and a sore back to understand how agonizing standing is for a pregnant person, which is hy he collects the coat and goes after the man, the same direction he ran to. Zoro’s phone vibrates again and Sanji contemplates whether to pick the call or not. He ends up connecting the call after seeing the words Dr. Lucci flickering on the screen.

“Zoro is unavailable at the moment.” He informs, “Did you have something important to tell him?”

“Ah, Sanji” The other says, halfheartedly.

“You sound disappointed.” Said man says on a polite smile.

“No, not at all!” the doctor makes an awkward chuckle. “I just wanted to apologize again for not keeping my promise.”

“I heard it’s a habit of yours” Sanji drawls, hearing squelches of the small ponds his feet stomp on. “Not turning up?”

“It happened only twice,” Rob whines, “I can’t believe Zoro is already losing respect for me.”

“That’s kind of how it goes.” Sanji winces, sympathetically.

“What,” the doctor complains, “Is he gonna ostracize me next?”

“He might.” Sanji chuckles, teasingly.

“Wait, are you” –Rob drones– “walking under the rain?”

Sanji’s lips open in an o, and when he finds there’s not a way at length’s hand to lie his way out of this, he sighs. “We had a little accident on route 66, so we’re waiting for another car.”

“Sanji,” Rob’s voice becomes sterner, “please tell me where you are. I’ll head your way.”

“No need,” Sanji shrugs, “but I could do with your consultation on something.”

“Sure, I’m all ears.”

“Is it possible for me to get abdominal contractions if I’m under stress?” He asks, “I mean I read about Braxton-Hicks contractions before but the ones I keep having are a little more painful.”

“And because of the nature of the canal spell you chose, it’s going to become even more painful,” the doctor replies, “It starts as a slight pressure on your abdomen, and then it becomes more intense as the baby changes position.”

“So the contractions are because my baby is changing into the head-down position?”

“Not exactly,” Rob denies, “Look, this shouldn’t be discussed over the phone. How about you come to my infirmary tomorrow around noon?”

“What if you stand me up, too?” Sanji jokes.

“It won’t happen, I promise.” He assures, “I’ll keep the rest of the afternoon free for you. Please make sure to drop by,” he says, “I’d like to examine you.”

“Sure,” Sanji agrees, “by the way, I can see Zoro” –he informed right after a white car parked by the side road– “you still want to talk to him?”

“It’s alright,” he said, “I’ll see him later.”

Sanji disconnects the call and looks up at the three getting off the car. Kuina, in a formal ensemble, rushes to him, eyes wide with genuine worry.

“Oh, sweetheart!” she says after examining the scratch and the blood on his forehead, his disheveled hair and drenched clothes, “Let’s get you inside the car first.”

 

In the car, Sanji is nested in the back seat with Zoro. Sasha is behind the wheel and Kuina on the passenger’s seat.

“How’s the head?” Kuina asks as she passes some tissues to Sanji.

Sanji takes the tissues from her hand to wipe the dried blood made sticky by the rain, “I’m fine.” He tells her. “By the way,” he faces Zoro who is contorting his brows apprehensively at him, “that doctor called again, told me to drop by tomorrow afternoon.” He informs, “And stop fucking looking at me like that!”

“Stop acting so blasé!” Zoro fires back.

“It’s a scratch, not a brain tumor. I’ll heal.” Sanji counters, shrugging out of his coat. “I’m not gonna die from something like this.”

“Lose the sweater, too.” Zoro orders, an arm stretching to the back to grab a blanket.

“I’m more comfortable like this.” Sanji mumbles and keeps wiping at his forehead.

“Look, I’m covered in mud and dirt, soaked wet down to my balls. I don’t need you giving me inane banter.” Zoro growls, sharply. “Lose the damn sweater before you catch a cold.”

“Lay off me.” Sanji growls back.

Okay, so there hasn’t been a time where they’ve seen eye to eye, and Sanji loves the man, he really does, but can’t Zoro at least fucking see that Sanji is having a hard time getting exposed in front of people? Especially with  _the_  douche who’d latch at any leaked chance to humiliate him. The two are practically rivals if the boy is having his eyes on Zoro. So, no. Sanji isn’t going to reveal his body to anyone, Kuina included. He’s tried hard to not fall victim to any type of peculiar scurrility, and he isn’t going to stop now. When it was just him and Vivi, Sanji had to become someone else in order to stay alive in an environment so harsh for a person with his mental condition and his state of being pregnant. This isn’t some case of chronic lack of self-esteem either, but Sanji is just not up for anything anyone else says, even if it’s Zoro.

“J,” Kuina relents, peering at him from the front seat, “it’d be more troublesome if you catch a cold, your body shouldn’t deal with something like that. You’re lucky you didn’t sustain any other injuries and the baby is fine, but let’s be a little more careful, huh?”

Sanji’s buried anger –because he really wanted to rip into Zoro for being too obstinate but stifled it in, it rises, causing his heartbeats to rise as well. He tries to even out his breathing since that usually does the trick. “I don’t have to remind you that I survived without all this attention, do I?”

“That was back then,” Zoro reminds, “now we want you to take better care of yourself.”

“I am!” Sanji bellows, caustically, “and didn’t I tell you to lay off me?”

“I’m worried about you.” Zoro confesses with a small voice.

Sanji winces at that, “I  _know_.” He tells him in a whisper, “Just…” he places a hand on Zoro’s knee. “Take me home, Zoro. Please.”

Zoro wraps his arm around Sanji’s neck and leans into his ear, “Alright, alright…” he says, “if that’s what you want.”

“But guys,” Kuina prompts, “what happened back there?”

Sanji resigns from the talk to soak in the warmth radiating off Zoro’s chest, leaning his cheek against it and not even stirring as Zoro flings the blanket over him.

“Not sure,” Zoro admits. His marble arm, firm and protective, wraps around Sanji’s shoulders to bring him even closer. “I was driving when I felt my sight dim for a sec, lost control on the wet road and almost got us killed.”

“But you didn’t,” Sanji mollifies, “and we’re fit as a fiddle.”

Zoro plants a light kiss on the crown of Sanji’s damp hair: a silent gratitude.

“And earlier at the market, a vase fell off the shelf on its own and Sanji says he saw it happen and honestly” –he says after Kuina raised a brow– “I believe him now.”

“At freaking last!” Sanji props up to roll his eyes. “Thank you.” He tosses his head back on Zoro’s chest.

“So what are we dealing with here?” Kuina wonders, then, suddenly, a smirk twitches her lips, “Hawley Griffin playing pranks?”

Zoro mirrors the smirk, “I was thinking imaginary fairies.”

“Guys!” Sanji breathes out, “You’re not helping.”

“Oh, come on!” Zoro whines, “don’t tell me a part of you doesn’t find this funny.”

Sanji falls silent for a moment to consider it, and then his lips curl into a smile, “Actually, Susan Storm wouldn’t have been so bad.”

Kuina bursts out laughing; “Now that’s the spirit.”

Sanji shrugs on a broad smile, “She’d scrub my back when I’m taking a shower.”

“Sanji, that’s awful.” Zoro grins, and Kuina wheezes on another laugh.

 


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Azoog I saw you in a dream; don't ask, it was weird. I hope you're safe and sound.

 

 

It becomes rapidly obvious that all it takes is a brisk stipulation spoken flippantly and Sanji would scratch back like a cornered cat. Though Zoro did rescind his, and it wasn’t spoken lightly to say the least, but Sanji has shown an acerbic and withdrawing behavior every single time the topic zeroed in on his body. He just has so many issues, and Zoro is suspecting what’s behind the curtain is even more demoralizing.

It transpired before, it will again.

 

The young worker, Sasha, with the flirtatious eyes, has dropped them off at Zoro’s, and he and Kuina left after the latter whispered to her brother to keep an eye out on Sanji, which she shouldn’t have because he is.

Sanji immediately excuses himself to take a shower and the other two leave, Zoro doesn’t even pry. He gets the under-floor heating working before he vanishes into another bathroom.

 

“I must admit,” Kuina starts, propping on the window bar with her elbows, “for a human, he’s quite the handful.”

“I’m sorry but he is insolent.” Sasha says huffily, “It’s not what you’d expect from an Alpha’s mate.”

“Mm,” she hums, “you’d better keep your opinion to yourself if you want to keep your head on your shoulders.” She warns him, “You think Zoro will appraise you for things like that?”

“I know what’s better for me, Miss Ronoa.” He tells her, tersely. “’Which is why I didn’t put Sanji in place when he told Zoro off.”

“What makes you think I’m different?”

“Because you’re also thinking the same thing I am, for the most part.” He prevaricates.

Kuina remains ambivalent.

 

He is under the shower head, sighing relaxingly under the unbelievable pressure when he hears Sanji’s strained grunt, and another, and then another, deeper each time.

 

“The normal reaction of someone just so badly informed is to at least pretend they want closure. You, Sasha, have absolutely no qualm with bearing your teeth at the Alpha’s mate.” Kuina marvels, “While I knew Sanji a bit before he relocated twice, I still can’t find the fortitude to come in between them.”

Sasha at least looks apologetic.

Kuina is still looking out the condensed windscreen. “You seem to think that because the Alpha favors you a little, there is some possibility of you hogging the throne of his mate, which, allow me to say, is utter nonsense.”

“It’s something I have the right to fight for.” Sasha counters, steering the car with spoken dedication. “My title gives me that right. And with all due respect, this is something you should not interfere with because you’re a beta.”

“You think Omegas are better?”  Kuina dares.

“I think you’re being exceedingly personal.” Sasha reasons, eyes quivering.

“That Alpha is my brother.” Kuina clarifies, “and Sanji is still his rightful mate.”

“With an attitude like his” –Sasha scoffs– “I can overturn this to my advantage and not even you can stop me.”

This is not good.

 

Zoro had stilled completely after Sanji started to groan slightingly inside the shower, and as he listens in, the doubt starts to creep up on him. Why is Sanji doing this?

Zoro is aware of the little fiasco they had the night before, but they can always try again, and it’s not like Sanji hates him. He didn’t show fear when they kissed or touched. If it’s just sex, they can work it out. Why is Sanji resorting to something so poignant in a sense like touching himself when his lover is right here, willing to be one with him more than anything else? Then, he notices it: there is no scent. Before, when he and Sanji didn’t even swap phone numbers yet, Sanji would sometimes use the bathroom for something intimate like feeling himself, not aware of their true nature then and their capacity to smell pheromones normal humans can’t, and because of the werewolves’ enhanced sex drive, Zoro, in the most part, had to fight against barging into the bathroom and pinning Sanji down to thrust into him raw and deep… just like he is now. So if Sanji isn’t doing any of that, just what in the blue hell is he making those noises for?

He considers leaving the bathroom to check up on Sanji, but the latter suddenly mumbles something. He stills to hear it.

“I’m fine, Zoro. I’m fine.”

 

She may be merely a beta, but a beta is still pack and Zoro is still her brother. Sasha, and all the likes of him, condescending omegas giving themselves too much credit, they will have a taste of her ire. She isn’t just a beta following her duty in the pack, no, she is also a sister.

 

Zoro is in the kitchen in black sweats, loitering undecided about what to cook for dinner when Sanji finally leaves the bathroom in a white bathrobe and fluffy slippers. He lounges in with a dopey smile. His complexion a little paler than last time Zoro saw of him which was half freaking hour ago. But he is smiling and that’s what matters.

“What’re you making?” Sanji heads to the stove and peers down at the pot to see for himself.

“Chicken soup.” Zoro offers, busy chopping carrots on the counter.

Sanji tastes the soup and adds salt, and then he returns to the counter and pecks out a portion of the carrot. “I’m sorry about your car.”

Zoro sighs bitterly, “Such a nice car, too.”

“You can have my bike?” Sanji jokes. “Wait, I haven’t seen that beautiful thing in months, don’t tell me you threw it away.”

“No, I didn’t.” Zoro is quick to assure, moves around to wash the carrots, and adds some oil into the mixture inside the pot. “I just stored it away. I mean, after you left –” he pauses suddenly, his voice dark and foreboding, “guess I didn’t like the reminder you were gone.”

“Hey,” Sanji’s voice relents. Just before his hand lands on the other’s shoulder, Zoro shoots away, briskly.

“Anyway, it’s somewhere safe. So don’t worry.”

Sanji scrutinizes at Zoro with his upper teeth nibbling his bottom lip.

They need a lot of time and patience to get over everything that happened, it is something Sanji has become quite certain about recently.

“I’ll make something else. I mean it’s not like the soup is your thing.” Sanji offers as he opens the fridge, “Kuina too.”

“Don’t bother,” Zoro cuts him off, “She is leaving town tonight, and I’m practically fond of chewing.”

“The last bit I get but why the hell is Kuina leaving?” Sanji closes the fridge and returns to Zoro’s side.

“Last time I… frenzied, so to speak, I ruined a few partnerships. While it’s my responsibility to restore everything back to the way it was, I still can’t. Kuina has to make the transactions before I involve myself in anything.”

“Speaking of which,” Sanji quickly changes the subject, “I still can’t figure out what happened back in the car. Like, you said you lost your sight for a minute?”

“Yeah!” Zoro gushes, as though happy about the change of subject that he’s indirectly demanded be done. “It felt like someone was blindfolding me.”

“Could be a witch?” Sanji suggests. “Last time, Mia and his witch sent a freaking were-cat onto town.”

“Didn’t feel like a work of witchery to me.” Zoro shrugs.

Sanji agrees, “And I didn’t feel any headaches.”

“Look, whatever it was, it can wait.” Zoro says over his shoulder as he mixes the contents inside the pot after adding the vegetables. “Let’s just try and enjoy this evening since Kuina is leaving.”

Sanji makes a shy smile.

None of them sees the spatula being lifted in the air and then coming down fast to slap Zoro’s backside. Said man swivels fast with a blush. He narrows his eyes at Sanji who is placing the dirty utilities into the sink.

“Well, Sanji, you’re becoming bolder.” Zoro comments on a smirk.

Sanji spares him a jaded glance, “last time I checked, doing the dishes didn’t bite.”

“Oh,” Zoro drones, “so you slap my ass and now you try to clear your name?”

Sanji props a brow at the man, “Dude, I know you’ve got a sexy ass, but I’m not exactly dying for it.”

Zoro frowns for a moment because he did feel a slap, did he not? But then his frown morphs into a smug and Sanji scowls in his stead. “Sexy, you say?”

Sanji rolls his eyes, smiling openly nonetheless.

 

It goes from eating dinner together –Zoro just staring actually while Sanji slurped the soup Zoro made for him, whilemaking contented sighs– to snuggling on the sofa for an impromptu movie night since the talk steered from Susan Storm to The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen –whose captain Zoro mocked for the name. Who names their book’s titular hero Captain Nemo, anyway? It sounds like a species of a moronic fish. And then they made their way to the bedroom upstairs, twining their fingers and glancing fervently at each other, and then smiling shyly because it all seemed like they’re newlyweds and this is their honeymoon.

Sanji is now standing by the side of the bed with Zoro before him, eyes looking keenly into each other’s. Sanji’s head is a total mushy state of excitement, nervousness and, he realizes with dismay, a slight fear.

Zoro tucks Sanji’s strands behind his ears, but they just slip back to his face since they’re short. He brings his hands to Sanji’s belly now, only touching. “Sanji,” he whispers, voice smoky. “Are you absolutely sure about this?”

Sanji swallows down a lump in his throat that he didn’t know was there before he looks up. The faint light coming from both nightstand lamps make a twinge of redness shine unsteadily within Zoro’s eyes. Sanji closes his eyes for a moment before he gives a perfunctory nod. “I’m sure.”

“That wasn’t very convincing.” Zoro quirks a cordial smile.

Sanji, then, makes another abrupt nod, but this one is more confirmatory. “I’m very sure.”

Zoro leans into Sanji’s face, closing the distance between their lips. The latter’s lashes flutter, lids falling on one another as he sinks in the feeling of Zoro’s lips kissing his. Then Zoro is pushing him down very gently, trying to recline him down on the bed. Sanji isn’t minding because it’d be easier like this anyway. Zoro braces his arms on either side of Sanji’s torso as the latter props on his elbows. The bathrobe has slid off one shoulder and is now revealing a leg. Zoro hovers over him with all-encompassing love reflected in his eyes, it all but makes Sanji’s heart burst with elation. He grabs a hold of Zoro’s shirt and pulls him down, seizing his lips again. The kiss quickly turns heated and, this time, Zoro sucks on Sanji’s lips, fervent in his stimulation. Sanji moans into the kiss, rolls properly on his back and spreads his legs so Zoro can place himself in between. They pull away, and Zoro can’t help but peck languid kisses to the mole on the Sanji’s chin, and under the corner of his right eye, and then he pulls away altogether. Kneeling between Sanji’s legs, Zoro straightens up to take his own sweatshirt off, revealing a muscular neck and torso already covered with a bead of sweat. There’s an evident erection under his sweatpants but Zoro only stretches the waistband with his two thumps, undecided, and Sanji salivates at the sight.

“Zoro…” Sanji calls on a breath, it’s purposeless and Zoro actually smirks at the sight of having his mate silently begging for it. It’s just too hot in itself.

“Take off the bathrobe.” Zoro orders. He is still kneeling between Sanji’s legs, eyes as red as last year’s blood moon Sanji came to adore and abhor at the same time.

Sanji shakes his head, movement faint.

Zoro falls silent before he speaks again, “Take it off.”

Sanji’s eyes are quivering so fast he is not sure what he is looking at anymore. He feels his chest rising and falling as he takes in shallow breaths and immediately casts them out. “I’m…” the corner of his eyes overweight with unshed tears, and the second time he shakes his head, his tears spill down his cheeks.

Zoro is soon stroking Sanji’s cheek, thumbing away his tears. He shushes Sanji before he’d breaks into more tears and it’ll only serve to spoil the mood he finally managed to set. “Alright, you don’t have to do it.” He tells him, voice small like he is coaching him. “We can leave it, or I can take it off for you because you know it’ll be in the way.”

Sanji chews on his pouting lip, his blue eyes meeting Zoro’s for a brief moment. “You do it, then.”

Zoro plants a quick kiss to Sanji’s forehead before he brings his hands to the belt of the bathrobe, untying it very slowly, teasingly. He slides his hands under the lapses and peels them off, revealing Sanji’s body.

Sanji’s elbows give and he fans down on the bed sheet, the back of a hand draped over his mouth and the other beside his head. And then, he faces the other side altogether.

Zoro is perched atop him again, eyes taking in the long neck, the lump there bobbing when Sanji gulps. Zoro’s eyes move to take in the three diagonal claw scratch marks on Sanji’s dip and sternum, and that is just so foreboding to watch… until Sanji’s hand frames his cheek, ushering to move on. He said it before, he doesn’t have to again. And although Zoro wants to, he knows he’ll feel encompassing things whenever he catches sight of those scars. He inflicted those on Sanji, and there’s no going around this cold, hard and indisputable fact. But if Sanji has seen some close correlation between Zoro’s mood switch and the marks on his chest, then Zoro wasn’t exactly having a rein on his emotions. He flicks his eyes to somewhere else: the erect nipples. Sanji lets his hand fall beside his head again and Zoro stares at the hollow of his sternum, barely hollow anymore, and then down towards the abdomen endowed with the enlarged and swollen bump on display.

“The pregnancy depleted my pubic hair.” Sanji offers input, his voice muffled by the back of his own hand. “My armpits’ too”

“I wasn’t complaining.” Zoro chuckles before leaning down to kiss the belly, his hands palming out on each of its side, showering it with affection. “I can’t believe I was gonna let Kuina and Sasha see this. Good thing you sulked your way out of it.”

Sanji only stares back at him.

Zoro perks up, a smile on his lips, “Looking at you like this, it does ring of things that I might sound vulnerable if I say, but I don’t think I can keep this to myself anymore.” He says, “Sanji, you’re so beautiful.”

After he catches himself gaping stupidly at his mate, Sanji faces the other way again. “Shut up, you fur b– oh,  _God_!” His voice is caught on a surprised gasp when Zoro takes his cock inside his mouth.

Zoro drags a long lick to the crown of Sanji’s cock before he takes it in his mouth again, all the way to the base. His hand wiggles its way to Sanji’s entrance, nudging against it with his finger to go in before Sanji props up, face flushed.

“I’ll do it,” he says, breathily. “I’ll use magic, so, just…”

Zoro takes his mouth off Sanji’s cock, pre-come glistening over his lips. “I want to do it –loosening you. I mean assuming you’re tight, unless you were goofing around with other guys that I don’t know of.”

Sanji falls silent after that as he slowly leans back on the bed again, facing the ceiling. “Are you trying to make me feel bad about this whole thing?”

“I was just joking.” Zoro reassures with his dark voice.

“Let’s use magic.” Sanji says. “My back can’t keep up with the exertion, and being like this is really difficult on my lungs.”

Zoro settles between Sanji’s legs again, furls the waistband down for his cock to flag free, and then he hooks his hands under his mate’s knees and pushes them towards Sanji’s chest as the latter grunts a little, his hands holding his belly.

Sanji casts the spells and watches as Zoro whirls his hips to nudge the head of his cock against the rim. He feels Zoro’s fingernails digging into his skin and the sensation burns, just like the day claws tore his skin. He doesn’t want to be overcome by nightmares he finally managed to not have in the recent days, but the sensation is just too overpowering for him to fend off. He looks up at his mate, imploringly. Zoro peering down at him with red eyes gravely misgive him, and Sanji is soon crumbling.

“W-wait… No!” He hisses, “S-stop…”

“Sanji,” Zoro’s voice is gentle and patient, “It’s only me, see? I won’t hurt you.”

Through his fogged vision, all Sanji sees instead of a benign smile is a predatory smirk, and instead of warm eyes… pure evil. His breathing hitches and it soon becomes labored, especially with the baby’s weight pressing against his diagram. “Get away from me!”

Zoro immediately releases Sanji’s legs and pulls the waistband to hide his cock. He lifts placating hands and backs away from him. “You’re safe, I promise.” He hushes, “I wasn’t going to hurt you.”

Sanji rolls to his side, evens out his breathing while slowly sitting up.

“Are you okay?” Zoro inquires, trying to sound as unthreatening as he can.

“No, I’m  _not_  okay.” Sanji huffs, a hand scrubbing his face. “ _We_  are  _not_  okay!”

Zoro wets his lips and rubs his nape, the action too rough. “Sanji, it’s not the end of the world, we can always try again.”

“It’s not gonna work.” Sanji throws his hand in the air, now swinging his legs over the bed to perch on its side, “Don’t you get it? As long as I’m dissociating like this, we can never have sex again.”

Zoro crawls to his mate, places a hand on his back. “It’s okay,” he says, “You just need time.”

Problem is, Sanji doesn’t have it.

“Do it from behind,” he suggests, “and even if I say no, don’t stop.”

Zoro lets out a bitter sigh, his forehead resting on one of Sanji’s shoulders, “That’s rape.”

“I don’t care.” Sanji insists, doggedly.

“I do.” Zoro counters. “What I don’t get is how come you had no qualms mating with the other and not me?”

Even if they share the same body, he and the wolf –or what’s become of it– are not the same entity…

“He used some sort of aphrodisiac pheromones.” Sanji explains what Vivi said to him. “It’s not like I knew what I was doing.”

“So, basically, what you’re telling me is that he roofied you, mind-broke you and then raped you?” Zoro is in utter awe. 

“This sucks.” Sanji says after an ominous pause. “I hate it.”

Zoro, if he has a God forsaken statement of his own, he chooses not to word it.

 

 

***

Sanji is very much awake. Well, it’s not like he could fall asleep after the stunt he pulled last night, which, embarrassment aside, must have been a big strike to Zoro’s pride. Zoro fell asleep immediately after that, and Sanji is actually envying him. He knows sleep and rest are two sides of the same coin, and with his erroneous lack of foresight, he’d end up dropping balls with no one understanding anything anymore. Except the doctor; the doctor sounded like he knew what he was talking about and a part of Sanji, the devout part, is really hoping Rob isn’t garrulous in nature.

Sanji stares at Zoro’s back; the man didn’t put his shirt back on after he took it off. Besides, Zoro used to snuggle under the sheets butt-naked and it’s only in the presence of Sanji that he reduces himself to some decency. Sanji sleeping back after putting the bathrobe back on sort of triggered questions of that. He stares at the sagged muscles, fair under the molten sunlight, the loose joints in his shoulder-blades and the beautiful slope of his hip.

Zoro is just so perfect, he fucking is.

Sanji hobbles closer to the broad back, props up on an elbow and begins a long trail of kisses on Zoro’s slanted shoulder, to his neck and up to his sharp jaw. Zoro groans jadedly, which makes Sanji smile. He fixes the area behind Zoro’s ear with a close-mouthed kiss, and it soon alternates from that to a heated suck under the earlobe. Sanji lets his hand wander over Zoro’s torso, loving the feeling of muscles flexing under his touch. But he keeps his lips on Zoro’s neck, kissing and licking shallowly, careful not to leave any marks. His hand steers towards Zoro’s pelvic muscle, shaping a well-curved v-line. His fingers brush against the waistband of the sweatpants, and Sanji slips his fingers under the fabric, hand wriggling to bush the half-erect penis.

“’morning” Zoro mutters, words taken over by a yawn.

Sanji can’t help but beam again with a radiant smile; hearing Zoro’s sleepy voice, well, in a different day it’d have been enough, but Sanji is already working his way to Zoro’s cock. “Good morning.”

“So lively,” Zoro chuckles, and added “you aren’t getting any weird kinks, are you?”

Sanji chuckles back against Zoro’s ear, voice breathy. “Dunno” he admits, his hand now cupping the cock and rubbing it in very slow motions. “Guess I’m getting creative wakeup ideas. Sex on flat surfaces is kinkier.”

“While I’m tied, you mean?” Zoro shuffles a little when he feels Sanji’s hand rubbing his cock.

“That’s not entirely true –okay, damn it.” Sanji sighs, “It was strangely refreshing.”

“Own up to it, J. You’re getting kinkier.” Zoro accuses. “Your hand on my dick is enough proof.”

Sanji nuzzles up against Zoro’s neck, “isn’t the lack of sex taking its toll on you?”

“Is this about my libido?” Zoro narrows his eyes.

“That too.” Sanji shrugs, “I’ve been a piece of garbage lately and I said pretty senseless stuff, and I don’t know how I never stopped to think that this is affecting you as well.”

“It’s not.” Zoro provides with his stern voice.

“It is.” Sanji insists, giving Zoro’s cock a vigorous squeeze.

Zoro winces, “so you decided to give me a penile fracture as a peace offering?”

Sanji loosens his grip on the cock, tilting to gauge Zoro’s reaction. “Kinda iffy here if I should suck you off or not.”

“Of course not, you idiot” Zoro grits out, “how do you even argue that?”

“But you’re not even hard,” Sanji pouts, “and my hand’s getting tired.”

“Sanji, your do-or-die resolution doesn’t exactly match what you’re doing.” Zoro jokes, “I mean I’d have been impressed if my dick was dying, but it’s not.”

“I’m worried about you!” Sanji says.

“Now who’s the thick-headed here!” Zoro exclaims.

The phone on the nightstand jerks as it vibrates on the hard surface. Zoro breathes out a heavy sigh before he picks it up, his voice still sexily drowsy. “Noisy, what do you want?”

Sanji hears Kuina’s disembodied voice coming patronizing like a foghorn; she must be pretty ticked by Zoro’s discourteous way of speaking to be yelling at him like that. Not that it matters to him, brotherly banter and whatnot. But if you ask Sanji, well, that’s how a boorish werewolf –recently turned hybrid– would act waking up to an inexperienced hand on his dick and a snooty sister on the phone.

“Did you make the deal or not?” He inquires, and sighs when she rips into him again for being so rude.

Sanji kisses Zoro’s shoulder again, uses the arm he is propping on to slither it under Zoro to try and play with his nipple, and the other hand tightens its hold on the slick cock.

“That’s what you get for briefing me on unnecessary details.” Zoro grits out, but another lambasting follows on his sister’s part.

Sanji feels a wonderful haze coming over him, rendering his cheeks flushed, his lips parted and mouth salivated. “Zoro,” he moans, becoming hard at the feeling of Zoro’s pre-cum coating his fingers. He forgets about licking; it’s not as satisfying at the moment. He wants to suck on the skin, feel Zoro taut under his stimulation. When Zoro doesn’t even spare him a glance because Kuina is probably letting him in on something business related and Zoro could use that, Sanji frowns. “Zoro.” He whispers into the suckled spot he’s been marking on Zoro’s neck.

“Yes, we are, sort of.” Zoro groans but it’s a little indistinctive. “You actually  _are_ interrupting something, yes.”

“I want your cock…” Sanji whimpers, and at this, his hand quickens its pace jerking Zoro’s cock off, the other is squeezing a nipple.

Zoro grunts indignantly and tosses the phone over the nightstand to roll on his back. Sanji giggles and shuffles back to give Zoro space as the man sits up and pulls Sanji to his crossed lap. “Told you you were getting bolder”

Sanji gives an involuntary open-mouthed moan when their sprung-up cocks touch.

As though he’s just realized he’s fallen hopelessly, irrevocably in love with Zoro, Sanji moves in an automatic way towards Zoro’s cock with his mouth hanging open.

“No” Zoro grits out, pulling him up by his chin, “That’s out of the range until you can stand vertical again.”

“I want it.” Sanji pants.

Zoro tilts his head, “I said no.”

Sanji, through slanted eyes, he looks into Zoro’s. His hands come up to untie the belt of the bathrobe. “I want it, want you so bad.”

Zoro gulps, not really knowing what to make of this sudden change in Sanji’s behavior.

Sanji lets the garment slip down his shoulders, his thin arms, and then fall down on the bed sheets. He rests his forearms on Zoro’s shoulders and leans over to have another taste of Zoro’s lips.

Zoro wraps his arms around Sanji’s back and loses himself in the open-mouthed kiss, loving the taste of Sanji’s hot tongue lapping against his. A hand glides down to Sanji’s tailbone, slowly finding a way for his fingers to nudge the twitching hole. “Fuck” he groans into the kiss, jaw tightening, “you’re dripping away here” He pushes his fingers against the wetness to make a point and Sanji moans again, “what the hell have you been doing while I slept?”

Sanji moves on impulse again, whirling his hips against Zoro’s cock, “Took care of it for ya last night,” he drones, “It stays like that for hours.”

Okay, Zoro understands that his mate is talking about the spell he casted last night, which means its effect is periodical. This could be dangerous. But he can’t deny that it’s still very sexy.

Zoro winces when Sanji’s fleshy ring clenches around the head of his cock. He holds Sanji by the hips, keeping him in place until he bottoms out inside of him. Sanji throws his head to the back, hands clasping at Zoro’s shoulders. Zoro gapes and marvels at how slick and wet it feels inside, and the most wonderful thing about this is how the walls close on his shaft the more he pushes his way in.

“Oh fuck!” Sanji cries.

“My thought exactly.” Zoro gasps when Sanji tightens more around him.

“Zoro” He whimpers, now bringing his eyes on Zoro’s. He rolls his hips, causing more friction inside. “Why aren’t you pushing all the way in?”

“Think you hit your head pretty hard last night to be spouting nonsense now,” Zoro jokes, “you’re clenching on me so fucking hard. I need to be careful before you break me.” The mischievous look in his eyes relents when Sanji pouts. “I’m not gonna stop,” he assures, “I want this too.” He moves a hand to Sanji’s face, probably to cup his chin, but, again, with that reaction from the other day, arms up over his face, defensive and wary. “J?”

Sanji’s heart races under his ribcage, any minute and it’d seriously beat its way out of his ribs. His eyes are no longer looking dopey, but wide with fear. His breathing is anything but normal at this stage.

Zoro curses because Sanji is dissociating again and only now does he understand that he isn’t just afraid of sex, he is horrified by it. Being too close with someone like this sort of emphasizes the idea of Sanji’s low guard, which is why he gets all antsy and protective of his baby when people try to pry. But with Zoro, the only one allowed closer vicinity than anyone else, Sanji just detaches from his body. This is why Zoro takes his cock out of the slick entrance and moves away from his mate altogether. If he stays close, Sanji will feel the threat lingering by and he might not even respond.

“Sanji?” Zoro calls again, his voice a gentle whisper.

Sanji brings his hands to his belly, lowers his head and apologizes. “I’m sorry.”

Zoro rakes a hand through his own hair, a little too frustrated for words. “You don’t have to be.” Saying so, he fixes his waistband and leaves the bed completely. “Like I said, you need time.”

Sanji remains silent.

“Don’t look so dejected.” Zoro smiles, now ruffling Sanji’s hair. “By the way, you’re giving off a bit of a heat, coming down with something, aren’t you?”

Sanji’s bottom lip pouts.

“Don’t go out today,” Zoro instructs and returns his hand to his pocket. “It might be a cold, which we warned you about.”

Sanji manages a small smile.

Zoro collects his sweatshirt and makes his way to the bathroom. Aside from getting off Sanji’s back and getting ready for work, he also needs to take care of his own personal problem down there.  

The sensation of Sanji’s walls tightening on his cock was so unreal that he finds himself hard again just thinking about it, so hard he’d burst. He imagines thrusting in to that cacophony of wetness, hotness and tightness again as he rubs his shaft, and Sanji’s litany of moans, oh fuck, his voice is so charming. Zoro’s quivering eyes land on the mirror and he sees a reddish blemish on his neck, the hickey Sanji sucked, and soon he is squirting cum all over his hand.

 

After loitering under the shower head to stall for what might come, Zoro walks back into his bedroom with a towel around his waist and another on his head. He finds Sanji hunched against the headboard with his phone in his hand. He beholds the scene for a moment because Sanji isn’t making any effort to lift his eyes off of what he’s scrolling down, and then he moves about, heading to his armoire to pick out the outfit for today. Apparently, aside from her noisy ranting, Kuina actually proved quite the accommodating partner when she brought news to her brother about new forged partnerships and signed transactions, which is why Zoro decided that he was going to focus more on this in part to get his authority back over his pack, and in another to give Sanji some much needed space to sort out his feelings and, whatever there is.

“You have anything planned for today?” Zoro inquires, pecking out a color-block turtleneck sweater and black pants.

Sanji lets out a little sigh, his eyes never leaving his phone’s screen. “Sleep, eat and sleep again.”

“That’s productive.” Zoro scoffs, but another onceover at Sanji tells him the man isn’t probably just opting for loafing around the entire day; something about that look he gets on his face whenever the wheels in his heads start turning. “Say, you aren’t getting any funny ideas, are you?”

“Mm” Sanji’s response is more than enough to confirm Zoro’s suspicion.

“Look, J.” He starts, “you need to learn how to be more patient. Now I’m not saying this isn’t concerning, but I think with a little time we can work it out.”

“I know.” Sanji provides.

Zoro wants to skid up to the man and snatch his phone –that if he doesn’t throw it out of the window, and then shake him really good so those words are drilled into his head that just keeps getting crafty ideas that, in return, always end up getting him down to his waist in trouble. But he refrains. “I’m free at noon, so if you want, we can go somewhere.”

“Mm” Sanji hums again, absentmindedly.

Zoro scrutinizes at his mate for another second before he shakes his head sadly, “Alright” he lets out a small breath, “suit yourself.”

After donning his garments, Zoro rounds the bed to fetch his phone, but something on its screen makes his blood run cold.

“That bitch.” He snarls.

Sanji finally glances up at him. “Something wrong?”

Zoro shows him his phone screen, the message about the call summary and the duration: 00:19:49 is flickering like a bad joke. “She listened in on everything.”

Sanji’s lips do a slight twitch, wanting so badly to laugh but the force for it is deficient. “It’s your fault for not ending the call properly.”

“If you weren’t acting like an Omega in heat, I’d have had more control on what I was doing.” There’s barely any animosity in his tone but he is surprised at the sudden rise in Sanji’s heartbeats. “You’re oversensitive, Sanji.”

“I’m unfortunate to have to deal with a bastard like you.” Sanji’s eyes land back on the screen of his phone, “there are things you can’t joke about.”

Zoro observes the other through narrowed eyes before he resigns to what he attempted to do earlier. He taps a number and waits for the call to connect as he looks at himself in the vanity mirror. “Ah, Sasha” He says, and then he pauses as the other talks.

Sanji chances a fleeting look at Zoro’s profile to define his expression, and then he looks back at his phone.

“Alright then,” Zoro says on a smile, “I’ll be waiting.”

Sanji hears the fond chuckle after Zoro disconnects the call, and although there’s nothing else he wants to do at the moment than reproach Zoro for even talking to that douche while in his company, he eventually deems it going overboard because he may be emotionally unstable.

 “I’m heading out,” Zoro prompts, “You sure you want to stay?”

“’Pretty sure.” Sanji grits out.

“It’s probably best, you’re running a fever.” Zoro furls his lips, fixes his hair and saunters to the door, “call me if anything happens.” He says over his shoulder.

“’Will do.” Echoes after the door to the bedroom creaks close.

 

Zoro hears the honk of the car that is here to pick him up. Standing beside the vehicle, he glances up one last time at the direction of his bedroom before he takes the back seat, humming when Sasha greeted him.

 

Sanji isn’t going to sleep, eat and sleep again. He’s done that enough in the past couple of weeks to last him two lifetimes. He felt upset this morning, yes, but lounging on bed for the entire day is not only unhelpful, but it’s very unsuitable for a man his age. So he leaves bed, grateful Ren isn’t kicking a fuss to get fed. He makes the bed and takes the quilt to the balcony to air out. It’s not sunny, but none of them stained the sheets for him to worry about laundry.

Zoro said unproductive? Well, Sanji is going to make him bite back those words.

After preparing a lavish meal for himself and finishing it without leaving a scrape, he gears up to the house-chores waiting on him on his list.

Vacuuming and sweeping: check/ Doing laundry: check/ Dusting off the large living-room and even cleaning the fur ball’s painted portrait: Check/ Cleansing bathrooms: Check

 

After Sanji’s third month of pregnancy, Conis managed to talk him into seeing a well-trusted physician who, judging by his magic jargon, didn’t acquire his degree from an ordinary med school. After Sanji finally indulged, the doctor warned him about any exertion, bearing in mind the fragile nature of his placenta. Now, Sanji finally understands what the doctor meant by that.

The pressure in his abdomen constricts to a tight throb, and soon he is doubling over, nursing his belly and miming a strained groan. The contraction leaves as quickly, allowing Sanji to straighten up and breathe deeply again.

 

Zoro is having a meeting with a client and other workers in the meeting room, and Kuina is present there as well. He hasn’t found the chance to pummel her thoroughly for eavesdropping through the phone on something so intimate that only he and Sanji should have. He makes a mental note to do it later as he focuses on the contract they’re trying to arrange with this guy’s company. Zoro lifts off his chair, the remote to the data show in hand, but as he roams towards the board, he doesn’t notice the paper sticking to his back with a text that reads (I’m a big loser).

Kuina coughs, the other workers pale at the brazen prank pulled on Zoro. Whoever it is, they are in for a very terrifying nightmare if Zoro ever finds out. Kuina coughs again and whispers because, aside from her brother, she doubts anyone else could hear it, “Your back.”

He lifts a brow and twists his arm to touch his back, tearing off the paper, and then flustering after reading the line. “Who’s the punk who did this?”

 

 

 


	6. Chapter 6

 

 

 

Dr. Lucci called Sanji, apologizing for he wouldn’t be able to make it today since there's an emergency outside town. Sanji actually appreciated him for telling him beforehand. It’d have sucked if he went all the way there only to find that the doctor wasn’t going to turn up just like Zoro said he always does.

 

Zoro returns to his office with Kuina in tail. He lets out a fuming breath before he drops on his chair, but a squeaky honk blaring off makes him jump up and almost out of his skin, and Kuina, at the side, barks a laugh. He ducks down and finds an air horn taped to the foot of the chair.

“Ina,” he growls, “I swear if it’s you…”

“It’s not.” Kuina wheezes through another bout of laughter.

 

Sanji is taking a walk outside, taking in the place he hasn’t seen in a year. It hasn’t rained much lately so he thought if he dressed warm enough, he wouldn’t be disturbed by the low temperature.

 This is the first time he ventures out into these areas by himself; he actually used to keep away from these woods. Aside from the little walks he went for in his childhood with his deceased father, Sanji has no recollection of setting out for a nature walk to connect and feel the tranquility after the death of both of his parents. Only after he woke up in the woods with a bunch of teenagers and one adult peering down at him did he rethink his choices. He actually finds that he does not only connect with everything around, he also feels like he is a part of it. Although this has a language of its own, he can still decipher it.  

His monologue steers from that to this morning’s waking stupor, and he doesn’t know if Zoro hadn’t stopped, could they have done it? Well, of course, Zoro isn’t shameless. He always puts Sanji’s needs above his, but Sanji means it when he says they might never have sex again. He stops in his tracks, looks up and finds that he’s walked up to the same area he used to come to in order to see Zoro and the pack in the not so long-gone past. He becomes awestruck when he finds the house burnt down to a crisp.

So the pack wasn’t blowing it out of proportion when they said Zoro torched this place down to ashes.

“Eerie, isn’t it?”

Sanji’s head whips towards the familiar voice, finding Frank in his school uniform coming up to him.

“I learned it from a book,” he said on a shy smile, finally standing beside Sanji, “How’re you?”

After Keimi, Frank was the one Sanji bonded with the most. He mirrors the smile and looks at the burnt house. “I’m fine, really, just reminiscing.” He says, softly. “What about you?”

Frank hides his hands in his pockets and shrugs, “going with the flow, I guess.”

“’You doing well in exams?”

“Trying to” Frank admits, “It’s not easy.”

“It never is.”

“I heard you were in an accident.” He trails off, a blush on his cheeks.

“Zoro is a lousy driver.” Sanji grins.

 

Zoro is in his office when the printer peeps, turning papers out without a command. Zoro raises an eyebrow, and walks up to one of the tossed papers now decorating his floor, and there’s a phrase that reads (Ronoa Zoro is a big idiot) repeated in all the papers.

 

“Charlie Stewart?” Sanji gushes. They’ve decided to go back home since Sanji’s fever spiked up a little, and the atmosphere got chillier. “Dude, she’s got a flair for doing chicks!”

Frank shakes his head dejectedly, “then Megan Wolfe.”

“Could pass, but she’s Bi.” Sanji tells him as they walk through the treed pathway leading to the house with him in the lead. “You don’t want her two-timing you with some other chick, do you, now?”

“This is really tough.” Frank admits, following suit when Sanji trudged through the front door into the warm house. “Can’t be all my types do girls.”

Sanji lets out a small chuckle, heading to the vast living room. “Don’t tell me you’re choosing Maria Rodriguez next, because if I’m right and if you’re going to choose her then–” he stops mid-sentence when his eyes fall on Zoro’s painted portrait. “What the–”

Frank follows Sanji’s eyes and finally sees the Alpha’s ruined portrait: reading-glasses’ frames drawn round Zoro’s eyes, a moustache under his nose and small devil horns on his head –the painting is a mess.

“I swear I wiped it clean this morning.” Sanji said, now reeling his head to face the other. “You believe me, don’t you?”

“Of course,” Frank assures, “question is, if it wasn’t you, then who was it?”

Sanji’s brows do a little twitch before he scrambles towards the staircase, asking Frank to not budge from his place because all this could be related to the accident from the previous day. He walks up to the bedroom, upon entering, he finds piles of clothes and under garments thrown out of the drawers, the armoire’s doors hanging open with its contents on the floor, and the vanity table’s mirror crashed and wall décor sabotaged thoroughly. He makes his way through the mess spilled on the floor to fetch his phone. Once he’s gotten it, he calls Zoro but it takes him straight to voicemail.

“Zoro, I don’t care if you’re about to have the deal of your life, I think we’ve been robbed. Come home.”

Frank is soon knocking on the door and asking for permission to come in, which Sanji grants after he lets out a heavy sigh. Frank’s lips hang open after assessing the chaos. “Sanji,” he starts, “I’ve been watching ever since Zoro left this morning, but no one came in or out of this house except for you.”

Sanji lifts a quizzical brow at the other, “and why the hell would I sabotage my boyfriend’s house?”

Frank shakes his head, “I’m not saying it was you.”

“That’s exactly how it sounded to me.”

“I’m saying I haven’t seen anyone come and go,” he explains, “and now we find the house like this?”

That’s when realization starts to dawn on Sanji, “maybe they never left?”

Frank pales at the revelation, “don’t say scary things, please.”

Said man smirks, “You have fangs and claws and you’re scared of a little ghost?”

Frank hides his ears, “No, no!” he dashes backwards, diffidently. “I don’t like where this is going.”

Sanji’s phone rings suddenly in his hand and Frank squeaks like a little girl that it’s too hard not to laugh at. Sanji connects the call when he sees that it’s Zoro calling him back.

“Are you hurt?” Zoro’s concern is evident in his tone.

Sanji’s eyes flutter a little. “No, I’m not.” He straightens up in his position and appreciates Frank for taking the hint and leaving the room. “But whatever this is it’s got to be related to the accident.”

“I’m on my way,” Zoro reports, “Stay close to Frank and wait until I get there.”

Sanji nods, “just” –he gulps– “hurry.”

 

Frank and Sanji are waiting at the veranda with the latter perched on the swinging chair and Frank leaning on the handrail, and then the Beta lets go of a full-bodied sigh.

“What was that for?” Sanji prompts.

Frank shrugs, “just thinking.”

“About?”

Frank’s eyes glint with something peculiar before he speaks. “What we were talking about earlier, I mean it’s been bothering me for a while now. You said you were bi, does that mean you sleep with girls?”

“Used to.” Sanji offers.

“But what about when you left town?”

Sanji narrows his eyes at the other, “You shouldn’t be asking people older than you about stuff like that.”

Frank lowers his head apologetically.

Sanji looks over his knees before facing away altogether, “I’m a guy too, you know.”

If Frank marvels at the answer, he does a great job hiding it.

 

Sasha is soon bringing the car to a halt beside the entrance, and Zoro throws the door open and bolts out towards Sanji, his stomps heavy on the humid pallet walkway. Sanji supports himself by the chair’s arm to elevate himself up, never lifting his eyes off of Zoro’s as the man sidles up the few stairs in one step, scurrying right into Sanji’s personal space. Sanji automatically reaches out with his arms and Zoro lets the other hug him. The blond savors in the heat and musky aroma wrapping around him once his forehead has landed on Zoro’s neck.

“Sorry you had to come.” He murmurs, softly.

Zoro pulls away and takes another thorough look at his mate, thick brows creasing, “What happened?”

Sanji puts everything that has happened during their absence in the picture for Zoro whilst retracting his hands away, and inwardly hoping Zoro doesn’t get a massive shock at seeing his ruined portrait.

Sasha has hopped up the stairs with his chest puffed-up haughtily, and like Zoro, has listened to what happened with a thoughtful silence which Sanji, much to his dismay, has appreciated.

“But we don’t know what exactly did this so before we go in, Zoro” –Sanji winces– “You should know I had no idea it’d do that to your portrait, or your other stuff, for that matter. It’s a fucking mess inside so I want you to gear up.”

Zoro takes that with a distinctive nod, and he scrabbles over his chest to fish his phone out of his pocket.

“Good,” Sanji snorts a pejorative laugh, “So what, are we calling the ghost-busters now?”

Because who else could Zoro be calling for help in a situation like this and  _now_?

“Very funny, J” Zoro scowls, lips curling in distaste. “We need an EMF.”

“Oh,” Sanji hums in false comprehension, “You’re calling Law, wow, why didn’t I think of that!” he cocks his head, amusedly, “Oh, I know.” He enunciates, “maybe because Law retired and he could do with some down time with Robin?”

Frank scratches the tip of his taut jaw, a smile pulling at his lips. Sasha hasn’t looked Sanji’s direction but when he finally does, his glare is unforgiving. The latter isn’t going to humor him. Glare all you want, glare until your eyes come out of their sockets, Sanji isn’t going to humor anyone.

“He’s the only one I know with an EMF in his glove compartment,” Zoro says over his shoulder as he waits for the call to connect, “We’re just going to borrow it to figure out what’s happening before my employees start to think I’m being haunted.”

Sanji’s heart roils at the revelation, his face pales and his entire demeanor turns alert and worried.

“Something happened to you?” Frank beats him to the question.

Zoro waves a lackadaisical hand to dismiss it. “Hi, Law” He walks a little farther from the three men to talk more comfortably.

With Zoro out of earshot, Sanji reels his face to Sasha’s direction. “What happened?”

Sasha gives a falsely courteous smile that just seems so churlish, and Sanji regards it with an unbiased mind before he does something he’ll regret. Sasha then shrugs, “Didn’t the Alpha appear unwilling of telling you? Why should I?”

“Because I’m asking nicely?” Sanji says, expression turning grim.

“Is that how you do business? No wonder you’re still unemployed.” Sasha muses on a thin smile.

Sanji fists his hands by his sides.

“You’d better take it back, Sasha.” Frank warns, his shy smile long gone.

Sasha’s eyes land on Frank’s now, “You’re acting too casually to me, Frank.” He tilts his head in challenge, “is he already rubbing off on you?”

“Okay, that’s it you half-witted monkey!” And that’s an insult to every monkey out there swinging from branch to branch. Sanji darts forward to seize the Omega by his lapses, but Frank’s hand stops his. He glowers at the beta to let him go but Frank shakes his head.

“He’s granted safe pass, Sanji.” He tells him, “You can’t hit him.”

 “So what, is this some freaking diplomatic immunity saga where he mouths off and gets away with it and I’m expected to suck it up?” Sanji chides, exasperatedly.

“Basically, yes.” Sasha chirps. “The only reason why I didn’t report you for ramming my head against the steering wheel the other day is because I was certain you didn’t know of my identity” –Frank raises an inquiring brow at Sanji who shrugs and furls his lip into a tiny smirk, that served him right and maybe Sanji should have pummeled his head through the dashboard for extra measures– “which grants me complete safety from the likes of you.”

“Sasha” the velvety voice cuts them off as Zoro saunters back into their circle, his expression indecipherable and the look in his eyes vague.

Said man straightens up in the new intense presence of the Alpha, eyes looking forward like a launched spear.

“Three days,” Zoro mutters as he stands beside Sanji, “You have three days to repent, and during that time, don’t bother to show your face at my place, understand?”

Sasha’s throat bobs like hooked bait floating off the surface of water, “Yes, sir.” he nods briskly.

Zoro nods back, “now leave.” He says, “Without the car.” He makes his way back into the house, and the aftermath of his lambasting is sweet on the tip of Sanji’s vindictive tongue.

Sanji and Frank grin impishly and wave at Sasha, who grits his teeth and glares coldly at them before walking away from the veranda and towards the direction of the entrance, his back muscles tense under his garment, making his strides look forced.

Inside the living room, Zoro is inspecting the damage with a catatonic expression. The other two finally join him.

“The bedroom is also a mess.” Sanji reports, face contorting apologetically. “Didn’t know if you hid something there so please make sure nothing was stolen.”

“You sound like a flight attendant, J” Zoro sighs bitterly, “stop.”

Sanji lifts placating hands, “zipping it up.” Saying so, he looks over at Frank and then back at Zoro’s profile, and then he huddles closer to the man, “but” he starts, “nothing happened to you, right? I mean, you’re fine, right?”

Zoro runs a hand through his hair and nods his head, “I’m fine.” He faces Sanji, “and you assaulted Sasha?”

Frank chokes on a cough, “Ah, excuse me, I think I’m dying. I‘ll go grab a bite and drink some coke.” you wouldn’t normally drink coke if you’re choking to death. Well, good luck getting a girlfriend, Frank. With that, he scurries to the kitchen and, thinking about it now, Sanji actually envies him.

“Um,” Sanji nibbles at his lip, eyes wandering about fervently before they finally settle on Zoro’s, “honestly? He was being a bit of a dick. I just tickled him a little. I mean” –he gulps– “you wouldn’t like getting belittled by a twenty-year-old, would you, now?”

“Nineteen.” Zoro corrects.

As if that makes it better.

“Nineteen, twenty, he is still a douche-bag.” Sanji shrugs.

Frank has opened the fridge and pecked out a green juice carton since they were out of his favorite coke, shaken it to see if it’s full, and now he is standing by the counter, a glass in a hand, ears picking every word coming from the hallway. And he is impressed Sanji isn’t finding any difficulty saying that to Zoro’s face, taking in Sasha’s status that is. He guesses it’s different with humans since they can’t really understand the importance of hierarchy between wolves.

Something flashes over Zoro’s stoic face, and Sanji wants to know what it is, he is baffled when Zoro smirks and ruffles his hair, “Good job.”

Frank’s brows fly to his hairline: that quick!

Sanji lifts a brow and soon even his lips part into a broad grin, “You should’ve been there.”

Zoro shakes his head, smile still tugging at his lips. “Good thing I wasn’t, he’d have reported us both.”

Frank furls his lips: probably true.

“Report _you_?” Sanji exclaims on a scoff. His hands wrapping behind Zoro’s neck and his belly pressing against the other’s torso, “Are you joking, can’t you tell he’s got the hots for you?” he seethes, as though the words alone sit wrong with him, “There’s no way he’d report you, ever.”

Frank’s lips part open slightly, he just can’t believe Sanji’s gone and said it. Well, true, Sasha regards Ronoa Zoro as more than just the Alpha of his own pack, and you’d be a total imbecile to not see it. Something’s been going on in his head ever since Zoro sent out mating calls –which were meant for Sanji but the man ended up calling the entire province of Omegas to his doorstep. But no one has ever had the gall to word it to Zoro, even Kuina who is usually fond of sexual innuendos, and, maybe, Sanji’s disappearance has something to do with it. Frank can’t tell anymore.

Zoro remains silent and only looks endearingly into Sanji’s eyes, his hands resting on the other’s hips.

“What,” Sanji licks his lips, his eyes roaming in Zoro’s, “so you’re not going to deny it?”

Zoro does that charming smile of his, a little shy but a little annoyed as well, it’s a smile Sanji has never seen someone else do and he can’t figure out why he adores it so much. “All I know is that I’ve got the hots for  _you_.” Zoro drawls, his hands sliding up a little towards Sanji’s back, “and that’s all you need to drill in that head of yours that just keeps getting funny ideas.”

Frank finds that his face is slowly starting to feel unusually warm, and very soon he realizes that he’s slowly blushing at Zoro’s words. He’d have overlooked it if it was the other way around with Sanji spitting nonsensical crap about romance, but… Zoro, the man doesn’t even know how to say ‘thank you’, let alone something bold like that.

Frank is embarrassed. For one, he can go on and pretend what he heard was a coincidence, but he doesn’t know if he should. Granted, the pack will feel delight at hearing this, their Alpha has finally found himself a mate and has settled with him, and he is even saying lines like that, but, under a different light, do they want to know considering some wolves take this as a sign of weakness?

Sanji breathes out a scoff, teeth showing as his lips stretch into a smile. He just can’t stop himself.

Zoro’s brows twitch, “Am I imagining things or Ren’s just kicked me?”

Sanji chuckles, “I wouldn’t be surprised if he did.” He shrugs, “Actually, I kind of think he did.”

Zoro frowns and furls his lips, unimpressed, but mostly with himself. “Maybe he didn’t like that line after all.”

Frank nods his head; he also found the line too cheesy.

Sanji giggles, “No, jackass, it’s because he’s upset you didn’t kiss him goodbye this morning.”

Zoro’s eyebrows crease over his forehead, “You’re serious?”

Sanji presses his lips together and nods several times. “He’s pretty sensitive.”

Zoro licks his bottom lips avidly, “Well,” he says, “maybe someone should keep him posted about your dissociation.”

Frank frowns, wait, what dissociation? Maybe he should stop and try to mask the words now.

Sanji smacks his head until Zoro’s hair flies everywhere, “You want me to talk gay sex to my unborn child?”

“I mean he’s clearly misunderstanding the situation here and this makes me look like the bad guy.” Zoro whines.

Frank winces, he does feel sorry for the Alpha, but what’s more incredible about this is how Sanji is the only one allowed to act like that towards an Alpha feared by so many and still get away with it.

“You just got Sasha off my back,” Sanji intones. “Clearly you’re not the bad guy here. As for what happened this morning, I mean I know how it looks but I won’t recoil from a kiss, neither will Ren.” He assures, “sex is different, though. I have no idea what came over me this morning but we’re still trying tonight, right?”

Okay, so maybe this is where Frank should plug his ears with cloves of garlic or something because he can do without knowing what the two mates do in their free time. Although, it still doesn’t make any sense, because why would sex be different when they’ve been over each other lately more than they ever have?

“I don’t get it.” Zoro muses after a pause, “Wasn’t this about Ren, how did it steer off to our sex life?”

Frank nods, please, just stop it and take him out of his misery already. Those two have completely forgotten about him and he’d be too lost for words to do anything if they suddenly started pulling each other’s clothes off.

Another smack to the back of his head and Zoro actually mewls.

“That really was uncalled for.” Zoro concludes, “in any case, I apologize.”

Sanji zooms in on the other.

“Thinking back on it, I acted like an absolute jerk, to you, and to my son.” He admits, “I’m sorry.”

Frank stills completely, was that really… just now… was that a ‘sorry’?

Sanji grins broadly, “Apology accepted.”

Frank’s perplexed expression softens and soon he is smiling to the empty kitchen.

The front door flies open and Law, along with Robin and Vivi and the pack scatter inside, groaning and grumbling about how one can escape death if they train enough in Law’s car. The latter shakes his head sadly at their harsh remarks because he is really starting to like that car. They approach the two men standing beside the entrance of the living room, and Frank finally comes out of the kitchen with another cup of avocado juice in his hand.

“How did you all fit in his junk?” Zoro wonders, a little gibing judging by his tone.

Sanji’s head whips to his mate, lips curling in distaste. “You do realize that that sounds so wrong, don’t you?”

Zoro’s lips part open but words are fleeing him for obscure reasons that could only be detected between the lines. Zoro’s just made himself sound like a pervert. And that got to say a lot about him, considering he’s a grown up in charge of five teen heads that turn fury on every full moon. He still hasn’t said anything in his defense because, well, Sanji has just pointed it out and now over ten eyes are goggling at him.

Vivi strolls up to Sanji, gladdening at his sight.

 _“I can’t believe I’m going to say this again but I really missed you_.” She intones.

Sanji looks at her narrowly, “You saw something, didn’t you?”

Everyone else stops what they’re doing as they listen to the one-sided conversation going on between Sanji and his dog. Zoro quickly mouths ‘long story’ before they think that Sanji has finally let go of his sanity. Obviously, they still don’t know about Vivi. But at least it’s a refreshing experience to see a psychic thought-transferring with a carnivore, that’s an upturn, right?

Vivi sighs, dejectedly. “ _You know me too well.”_

“Spill.” He orders.

 _“I haven’t been getting enough sleep lately with Law and Robin going at it like rabbits_ , rabbits, _Sanji_.” She reports, her ears drooping. “ _I mean there’s a limit for when you can have enough, clearly they they don’t know and I’m losing sleep.”_

Sanji’s jaw drops and he looks up at Law.

“What did she say?” Law asks, curiosity plain in his tone. “She knows what we’re dealing with?”

Sanji cringes, “Not exactly.” He scratches his temple, “but maybe she should spend the night here today, you know, so she’d catch up on some Z’s.”

Zoro snorts on a simper. Obviously, he figured it out.

Law and Robin glance at each other before they glance back at Sanji, both their faces gradually growing beet red.

“Sure.” Law nods, indistinctively.

“Okay.” Robin agrees.

“So,” Nami lets out a loud sigh, “can we talk about just who did this to our living room?” she takes it back to the situation they have.

“Oh, I brought it.” Law tells Zoro as he hands him the EMF detector. “But the static would have gone nuts by now if there was indeed a reading.”

“Should we scan the entire house?” Keimi prompts with eyes wide with earnest confusion.

“You guys go ahead and play,” Sanji permits, letting go of a small yawn, “I’ll fix us some grub.”

“Sanji,” Law calls after the man, “you don’t have to,” he tells him, “grandma sent some food with me.”

“That’s kind of her.” Zoro says in his diplomatic tone. “Since you guys are already here,” he tells his pack, “I need you to keep an eye out on the house. Luffy and Usopp, I want you out patrolling the area.” He looks over at the dog now, “and Vivi, you’re coming with me.”

Sanji perks up, “Wait, why?”

“You only need to worry about your health.” Zoro tells him, “I’ll be back soon, and I’m bringing her with me.”

“Guys!” Nami yells from somewhere upstairs, “you need to see this.”

“What is it?” Usopp asks.

“Everything is sabotaged, it’s a wreck.” Nami answers. “There’s also something written on the sink’s mirror, it reads ‘Ronoa Zoro is a big idiot’?”

The second his name is uttered, Zoro bounds up the stairs followed by Usopp, not really caring if he walked over someone. He might even have stomped on Frank’s foot trying to get to the stairs. Sanji walks up to the staircase with Vivi in tow and Law and Robin by his side. They wait for a while before Frank, who hasn’t left his spot since coming out of the kitchen, talks about a line written on the mirror with toothpaste, according to what his supernatural hearing managed to grapple. That just tells Sanji the bathroom must look like a garbage can by now. Zoro wouldn’t like it because the guy spends a lot of time in there, taking his sweet time under the shower or in front of the mirror, which, in retrospect, it kind of serves Zoro right for flexing in front of the mirror after every shower. Bear in mind that this is still all in Sanji’s head because why else would a guy spend that much time in a shower. Theories are good when you’re kept in the dark, Sanji loves theories and Zoro’s shower time is a nest of intrigue.

Suddenly, a nerve in the back of Sanji’s head throbs, and he knows the source of this slight twinge of pain. “It’s here.”

Robin and Law perk up beside their friend, shielding him. Vivi crouches as well. Frank keeps his eyes open, scanning their surroundings. Sanji’s hands wrap around his belly, protecting it from any potential danger.

Keimi and Luffy come into view at the top of the stairs, their shoulders slumped.

“Other rooms are safe.” Luffy reports, hands thrusting into the side pockets of his school pants.

“Except for the study in the attic” Keimi’s shoulders droop and she wrinkles her face in sorry. “It’s a little messy.”

“ _What!_ ” Zoro shouts indignantly from the bathroom, and if the situation wasn’t so dire, Sanji would have doubled over with laughter. Zoro is soon appearing from the other side of the parted staircase, disheveled and downright livid. He stomps his way towards the attic, the angry gait making him look like an astronaut hopping up and down the face of the moon.

Moments later, thumping noises come from the upper story. The reverberation is so loud that everyone just stairs in horror because it damn looks like Zoro is adamant on tearing these walls down on their heads.

“Stop it before the ceiling comes down on us, you bastard.” Reprimanding, Sanji clicks his lips in dislike, nose scrunching up.

The four teen werewolves who have been loitering in the second story come down to stand beside the rest, and that’s when Sanji pinpoints it like a sauce smear on a white shirt: Keimi and Nami not even looking at each other’s direction.

“Wait, could it be you two are fighting?” he exclaims on a smile.

Keimi’s long lashes flutter at him, and she soon looks away after shooting a sideway glance to her friend Nami who, much to Sanji’s surprise, glares sharply at him.

“Could you mind your own business?” She spits out, her round-eyes still glaring.

Sanji levitates a quizzical eyebrow at her.

Robin and Law share a look before they glance at Sanji, who is momentarily silent, the frown on his face slowly deepening.

Zoro interrupts the drama currently transpiring, standing at the top of the stairs with a handful of wet papers in both his hands. His usually daunting appearance is disheveled from his hair to his clothes, the scowl on his face more palpable by now.

The rest of them look up, and Sanji does the same, squinting up at the scene.

“Whatever it was it pissed on some of my clients’ files,” the fucker. Zoro tries to walk down the stairs but he misses on the bar of wet soap lying there like a dried bacon just waiting to get munched, except, this is soap and it’s waiting to ambush someone, someone who turns a little furry and a little scaled when his emotions aren’t stable. Zoro’s foot ends up landing on the bar of soap, and when it slips right under his sole, horror of horrors, he ends up falling down.

The rest of them watch as Zoro continues to fall, miming several ouch’s in his way down with papers flying everywhere. Usopp advises him to hold on to the handrail, and Zoro actually talks through his fall, saying something about brute force could dent the wood.

Sanji is overcome by another yawn, and then his eyes fall on Robin’s and he wonders if he should ask her about the weather in their wait for Zoro to reach down.

Everyone looks downward as the Alpha finally slumps downstairs beside Sanji’s feet, and he looks up after miming a loud groan. He finds Sanji peering down at him with chagrined eyes.

“Gosh, you’re embarrassing.” He says on a bitter sigh, and walks away.

Keimi nibbles at the inside of her cheek to keep from actually laughing, that nose-dive was one hell of a sight and Zoro groaning ouch here and there was just too hilarious in its own. Said man sits up with another grunt, his joints snapping at him when he levers up too quickly.

“That bastard!” He seethes.

They all know this isn’t aimed at Sanji, who, by the fucking way, shouldn’t be acting too calm when there’s an invisible force obviously taking a big liking to making Zoro’s life miserable. The bastard. And you know what, maybe all of this is Sanji’s doing, yeah, maybe he summoned this thing just to spite Zoro for whatever fucked-up reason Sanji thinks in his head that Zoro had done. It’s a plausible theory…

Actually, Zoro is just looking for someone to blame for his nightmare because the idea of him getting haunted by a spirit is just so unsettling. His point is proven when his pants get pulled down out of the blue and he yelps, making Sanji stop in his track to look back and so does everyone else.

Zoro jumps around to get away from whatever’s done that and to pull his pants back on.

Sanji watches the pack getting in a befuddled melee as though they’re standing on molten fire rocks, boys clutching at their pants’ belts and girls squeezing down the hems of their skirts. Law is actually covering Robin’s eyes with his hands. It slowly turns into a circus.

“ _Things seen and things unseen, I call upon thee, you will come unsealed.”_ As soon as Sanji finishes casting the spell, a sphere of white light diffuses into smoldering dust.

Zoro pulls Sanji closer to his side, and the rest of the pack crouches with their fangs thickening and their claws sprouting out. Law and Robin huddle to the back, guarded and alert.

Amidst all that smoke, a three-foot, tall humanoid creature with small horns on head and tusks in mouth comes into view. His head is a little distorted looking like a molten potato, the color of his skin looks a little bluish, but Sanji can’t decide if it’s greenish as well. There’s a grouch of something –wine, Sanji guesses, in one of his small hands. He is hairless, but he does have eyebrows, which, damn straight he won’t try to analyze.

“What the hell is this thing?” Usopp fumes through a mouth full of fangs.

Sanji scuttles closer to Zoro, a hand wrapping around his belly and the other grasping Zoro’s sweater from the upper-arm. Zoro gets a private second to listen in on Sanji’s heartbeats which are slowly accelerating in a not so normal pace so it tells Zoro that his mate has learned how to keep his guard up in the face of danger instead of shaking his hand with it with that stupid grin of his. Actually, this makes his stomach flutter because, at last, he can do his job right and protect Sanji and their son. It feels really amazing being relied on.

“It looks like a Troll.” Law remarks, gazing at the creature intently, “I’ve read about them before, but” –he gulps– “what are the odds?”

“It’s not a Troll.” Zoro corrects through gritted teeth. He hasn’t wolfed out yet but his threatening aura is not very much different, really. “It’s a Dokkaebi.”

The people inside the house let the info sink in before they reel their heads to the Alpha.

“And you know this because?” Robin inquires.

Zoro cringes like what he’s about to tell her is even drearier than the distorted and –ahem– naked thing slumped in an amber mess of slightly burned ash safe for the piece of ragged cloth hiding his genitals which everyone can really do without looking at. “One of my relatives keeps one as a pet.”

Usopp and Luffy actually snort out a laugh.

Sanji scrunches his nose up at the man who is looking mortified by the disclosure.

“Wow,” Sanji scorns, “your family is really something.”

Zoro ignores the derision dripping from Sanji’s words in order to confront the goblin. “So you are the little bastard who’s been causing the sporadic mayhem for the past couple of days?”

 The goblin cocks his head at the Alpha, and all of a sudden, he grins. “I think you’re accident-prone, Ronoa Zoro.”

“This little shit.” Zoro huffs, “you pissed on my files!”

“Sometimes,” the Goblin sighs meditatively, “You just have to let it go, but to pee or not to pee, _that_  is the question.”

Sanji, for one, is quite amused at the unexpected exchange of antics. Well, he knows the goblin isn’t here to chitchat. He made that plenty clear when he sabotaged the house and peed on documents. Whatever, it’s still work-related so it’s important to Zoro. But Sanji is quite intrigued and he wants to see this through.

Zoro lets an annoyed sigh, rolling his eye in its aftermath, “What ‘you want? Why are you doing this?”

The goblin preens darkly at him for a while before he switches to look at Sanji, who clutches more at his belly and moves impossibly closer to Zoro, who, in return, stands between Sanji and the goblin’s stare.

“For him” He says, curtly.

The rest lifts questioning brows at Sanji and the goblin.

Sanji lets out a humorless chuckle, “for me?” he echoes, “I don’t understand the meaning of that.”

The goblin nods his head and clasps his hands behind his back, now walking away from the ash. At the slight movement, the pack crouches more, snarling and eyes flickering with a twinge of yellow. He halts in his track to look up, unimpressed. “This is my thank you to the one who released me.” He says through a coarse snigger, “Ronoa Zoro should pay for being harsh on you, so I’m merely making that possible.”

“You summoned him, didn’t you?” Zoro mutters to Sanji.

Sanji shrugs, “Don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Actually, he did.”–Zoro squints at his mate who pouts and shakes his head– “by accident.”

A memory occurs to Sanji like a bolt of lightning, fast and sudden. “Wait,” he pulls himself away from Zoro, a finger pointing down, “The vase, I knew the lines were familiar, they’re a summoning spell, weren’t they?” He prompts, “the vase is the vessel and the writing is the seal, so when I read it, that broke the seal and you were able to walk free?”

The goblin nods again, more affirmatively this time. “I was sealed by a good-o whore of a witch whom I used to serve back in the day, and through the years, no new owner of the vase could break the seal until you, ostensibly a magic practitioner, read off the writing.”

“So what do you mean when you say your thank you for Sanji?” Frank asks, smiles in an almost ingratiating manner. Something about that goblin just doesn’t sit right with him.

The goblin simpers contemptuously. “When I was released, I wanted to repay Sanji, so I waited. Of course, I’d have simply asked for what he wanted and I’d have simply granted it, because, after all, I am a Goblin.” He shrugs, lips curling, proud of himself. “But then it appeared to me that maybe a little observation wouldn’t harm so that’s what I did, observe.”

“And?” Sanji urges with a sigh, eyes uninterested.

“And I came to the conclusion that your mate has been really unfair to you,” he hums, “In the sense that he never listens to your side of the story. He is quick to jump the gun and he is uite unskilled in bed.”

Law chokes on a cough and quickly makes to hide Robin’s ears; if he had a drink he’d be splashing it at everyone’s faces by now, including the goblin’s. The pack shifts in their stances, cheeks gradually flushing. Zoro and Sanji are actually gaping stupidly at the Goblin.

“So maybe I went a little overboard by spying on your little wild –not so wild– sexual escapades, but then again, I had my reasons and they’re pretty valid.” He shrugs like this is the most matter-of-fact subject out there and it’s not, in fact, slowly but surely traumatizing the two mates.

Zoro has gone pale and probably catatonic at the horrifying disclosure because he can’t really pinch the words from the air and shroud them from his pack, and it wasn’t bad enough that he couldn’t get inside Sanji’s pants but the damn goblin had to exacerbate it and put them on blast with his freaking stentorian voice, and now everyone knows Zoro and Sanji aren’t having wet-hard-animalistic-hot-raw sex. Fuck!

Sanji’s lids are blinking so fast that he can’t even look anyone in the eyes, not even Zoro. “Excuse me…” he starts, stuttering in his talk, “You do remember you almost killed us both in the car, don't you?”

“That was a” –The goblin grimaces– “a miscalculation, I assume.” He chirps, “I thought the seatbelt was to manacle you inside so I undid it, you should be thanking me by the way.”

“ _Thank_ you?” Sanji scoffs, “for what? For giving me a concussion” he relays, “For spying on me and Zoro in the bedroom?”

The goblin frowns.

“You know what,” Sanji lifts his index, “I think it’s time for you to go back to the hole you crawled out of.”

The pack peers up at him, and Zoro snaps his head at him.

“What?” Sanji hisses at them.

“You’re actually not going to ask us to see if there’s any conceivable way to give him a pass?” Luffy wonders.

“Why would I do that?” Sanji exclaims.

“Because you’re the one who always nags us not to kill” Usopp guesses.

“We’re not going to kill him, dumbass.” Sanji corrects, “We should just return him to where he came from.”

“And you think I’ll let you do that?” The goblin muses. Saying so, he makes another cloud of dust waft around him, and as the others cover their eyes, the goblin retreats from their sight.

Sanji shakes his head dejectedly before he makes his way to the kitchen.

“Where’re you going?” Zoro demands.

Sanji looks over his shoulder at his mate, “the one he’s targeting is you,” he reminds, “so I’ll let you settle it on your own while I go look for something to eat” –he parts his lips– “right, there’s the food Tsuru sent.” True to his words, Sanji lets the pack, his friends and the Alpha play with the trickster finding great entertainment crafting pranks on their expense, and he trots towards the front door. Assuming Law and Robin didn’t bring any possible plastic containers pumped with food in their way in like two freaking newlyweds bringing a gift over, God, he can’t even see it in his head.

Outside, he finds the beat-up vehicle creaking at every whooshing current of air, the thing Zoro has called ‘junk’, which takes him back to the time Zoro had the utter gall to call his bike ‘beat-up junk’, which, okay –and just to be a little fair here– compared to it, the car looks like a pimp-out mission gone horribly wrong. Hah! He won’t even apologize to Law; every man cherishes his ride, even if it’s an old bike.

When he returns with several plastic containers that have been neatly stacked in the trunk, he finds the interior of the house has become no less different than a salvage yard. It reminds him of his own apartment after the pack leaves him with a mess to clean. Maybe they aren’t going to admit it, but as much as it’s annoying to get outsmarted by a miniature troll –and the adjective is just to spite the midget, really– Sanji can see them having fun wrestling with it. In reality, he can end this with just a snap of his fingers if he so much wanted, but he’ll give all of them a few minutes’ leeway so they can have fun –he snorts a laugh, it’s actually so he can eat in peace.

 

Zoro hasn’t wolfed out and unlike the rest of them –the pack, unless Law and Robin go howling under the full moon behind their backs– he can actually turn into his new form and that could terrify the goblin. Speaking of which, Sanji still hasn’t investigated why his mate turned that night at his house right before they had animalistic sex, which, oh man, was so hot.

He’s thinking about it again, and once he starts thinking about it, he can’t get it out of his head, and if he can’t get it out of his head, his wiener is going to get too excited and flag itself for the onlookers, especially one with heightened power of smell. Putting aside the bit about perked-up cocks because he’s pretty sure Zoro controls himself better than that, Sanji wonders if Zoro is the same. The guy doesn’t really look affected by it that much, at least not much as it's taking its toll on Sanji, but this is actually… disappointing. It’s not like he’s expecting his mate’s canines to elongate with his claws drawing out like water coming out of a spigot, and he’s not expecting him to go all Anung Un Rama on his ass with his ultra-werewolfic levels of dickery –because the wolf/hybrid is a dick bag sometimes when he’s not trying to be, and that’s smoothing it. But he did expect Zoro to be a little more… needy? He doesn’t know how to put it. Heads down, if Zoro is being patient then Sanji is all too happy about that, but, and he’s not trying to besmirch his boyfriend here, Zoro is a walking poster-boy of literal poker-face, with him, you can never really tell.

Robin walks into the kitchen, and the scuffing of her soles on the plank puts his monologue on hold.

“Hey,” she tells him as she takes the seat next to his.

“Hey,” he reiterates.

“Eating by yourself, that’s lonely.” Robin remarks.

“It’s peaceful.” He corrects.

“That too,” she shuffles on the stool. “By the way, your boyfriend–”

“Wow, Robin” he cuts her off, letting go of a derogative breath, “you actually said it.”

“Well, he’s  _something_.” Robin huffs out, “and it’s not like I’m appreciating him for that just so we’re clear.”

He nods wearily to that, spinning his chopsticks in his fingers.

“So I was saying,” she says after exhaling a deep breath, “he’s wolfed out.” She reports, “And did I mention he has a tail.”

Sanji snaps his head at her before letting it sink between his shoulders.

“Since when does Zoro have a pointed tail?” She wonders, mostly to herself, “I thought the hybrid form was when he turned completely.”

Sanji doesn’t linger to hear her speculations, he has plenty of those. He returns to where he left the others and finds Zoro wrestling the goblin with his face half wolfed out, and just like Robin said, there’s a tail coming out of the end of his tailbone. The pack is cheering and even Law is whispering directions to Zoro as though he’s a coach watching his apprentice throwing hooks in a fight ring. It’s just so ridiculous, okay?

“What’re you doing?” Sanji whines. He is officially done.

“Just in time, Sanji.” The goblin chirps, “after I’m done with your mate, your turn is next, and let me just give fair warnings, after coming to the realization that you’re a selfish being who doesn’t even show gratitude for those who help you, I’ve decided to make you the chastisement that will set the beginning of my new era.”

Wow, is that not the monster with the shittiest attitude you’ve ever seen or what?

“Oh, that’s remarkable.” Sanji’s hooded eyes roll a little, “So I waste him now or do you wanna play with your new chew toy some more?” this, he tells Zoro.

Zoro kneels properly, even stretching a little, but a joint in his back cracks. The goblin is squirming under him to lift the other’s weight off, but much to his chagrin, none of it levitates, not even a little. Zoro beholds his mate, studies him through red pupils.

“What’s wrong?” he asks, voice so deep Sanji could seriously drown if he strains to hear it more, “you’re awfully cross.”

“The lack of hot, passionate sex is finally taking its toll on you, lover boy, I see.” The goblin intones.

“I’ll waste him.” Sanji decides, grimly.

Zoro lifts his hands in the air, “I don’t care.”

“Wait, wait.” The Goblin pleads, “You know you’re exhausting your strength the more you resort to magic. Now I’m not saying that’s a bad thing, it could be, but in the long course, it’s going to affect your pup.”

Sanji contorts his brows. “I’m still going to send you back.”

“Wait!” The goblin stalls again, “I know about the three canals, I know about the one you chose.”

Sanji cocks his head, a flash of wicked amusement blazes about his countenance, and he smirks dangerously, “Goodbye,” he tells him, casting another spell that turns the goblin’s body into dust again. The dust spirals in the air, and not willy-nilly, mind you, it slowly wiggles its way into a marble vase minding its own damn business at the far corner of the room. Sanji then chants another spell and wraps it up with a ‘ _combine and bind to the ash, nothing shall place it or place you, let this be your eternal seal, and whoever comes into the circle, lest they be eternally cursed_ ’. And that’s some ‘better-see-a-shrink’ crap going on there if Sanji wants grabby-handed nosy bastards cursed for touching a freaking vase.

The vase shakes vigorously, and the onlookers fear it might break at the force because the goblin is obviously resisting. He doesn’t want to follow the light and go peacefully, the little shit. But the shaking stops suddenly and the peaceful times return, for now.

“That was dramatic.” Frank comments, his voice breaking the silence right after their endorphins cool off and their wolfed out faces become human again. Even Zoro's tail shrinks back under his skin, gosh, Sanji is thankful, he almost mistook the manor for a zoo a couple of times.

Amidst the hustle and bustle of his pack boasting to each other about the wrestling scorecard, Zoro picks up the abnormal rhythm of certain, oh too familiar heartbeats. He lifts up to his feet, a scowl coming over his face.

“Sanji?” He calls, confusion latent in his voice.

The silence returns to the room, and the pack gets a better read on Sanji’s hunched form and pale face sheeted with sweat. Vivi whimpers and trudges to Sanji’s feet, nudging him with her head.

“Yep,” Sanji mutters on a weak chuckle, “I think I’m gonna pass out?”

Zoro is at his side before his knees even buckle. “I got you.” He whispers to his mate as his arms hook under Sanji’s armpits and around him, bringing him up and closer to his chest as Sanji hums incoherently, his hands clutching weakly at Zoro’s upper-arms.

“I’m so dizzy.” He groans, “Zoro…”

The panic in his voice does unimaginable things to Zoro’s heart, it twists it in agony. He tries to hold him upright but the gravity is bringing Sanji’s entire weight down, and he ends up slipping down until Zoro hoists him up again.

“He’s too pale, is that even normal?” Luffy notes out.

Robin scurries to help Zoro but he actually snarls at her, loud and clear. She halts mid-step, Law coming to pull her back, and Vivi moves out of the Alpha’s way as well.

“Should we take him to Rob’s?” Keimi worries her bottom lips between her teeth.

“N-no…” Sanji moans, besides, didn’t the doctor say he was outside town. “Sofa, need… lie down.” He mumbles, his clammy forehead buried in the nook of Zoro’s neck, too heavy to even lift off. “Zoro…”

“I hear you.” The man grumbles, “I swear, J, if what the goblin said is true–”

“Not.” Sanji denies, he gasps feebly when his body gets lifted bridal style, “Fatigue, fever, s all.”

“You promise?” Zoro asks, making his way to the living room now.

Sanji’s head feels hot on the soft place he’s leaning his head against, he eyes it, and he learns that he’s actually leaning his head against Zoro’s neck. “Promise…”

Zoro lays his mate down on one of the couches in the living room, and Sanji is fast asleep after that, shuffling to right his position and crossing his arms over his belly and his knees to his belly as well. Zoro scrutinizes the other’s ashen complexion, the droplets on his face like vapor fogging onto tiled walls. Maybe he should’ve taken the fever from this morning a little more seriously, because, when it’s all said and done, Sanji is still human and he still gets sick.

 

 


	7. Chapter 7

 

 

Sanji wakes up again and finds that Zoro has seated himself across from him on the same couch, already changed into a white dress shirt tucked under black trousers. He is propping his elbow on the headrest and thumbing his lips pensively, eyes keen on Sanji’s.

Said man flashes a shy grin, “Hey.”

Zoro refrains from touching his lips as he leans on that hand instead and smiles back.

Sanji stretches a little and, from the corner of his eyes, catches sight of Vivi curled up beside the foot of the sofa they’re sitting on. He looks at her with kind eyes before he looks at his mate again, “Where’s everyone?”

“Everywhere,” Zoro replies on a chuckle, “Lu and Sop are patrolling the frontlines. Nami went back to the local library. Keimi is here with Frank and Law, cleaning up the mess the midget Avatar made, and Robin is cooking, I think.”

“Oh my God,” Sanji exclaims, “not  _again_.” He sighs, but no menace is infecting his tone.

“That bad, huh?” Zoro guesses on a sneer.

Sanji recovers from his horror because that’s what Robin’s food gives him,  _horrors_ , and then he narrows an eye at the other, “How long have I been out?”

Zoro shrugs and resumes indexing his lips again, “a couple of hours?” he said, “And I wasn’t really planning to sit and stew, but Robin there is quite persistent, Vivi too, talking nonsense about me nursing you back to health.”

“ _You_ ” –Sanji smirks puckishly– “nursing  _me_  back to health?”

“I know how to bring down a fever without claws, I’m not useless" he counters, and tacks on more fondly “How you’re feeling?”

Sanji lets out a heavy sigh, “you want the truth?”

Zoro scrunches up his nose, “No, I want to talk about Darwinism.” He shakes his head, “of course I want the truth.”

Sanji snorts, “Alright, just know you asked for it” he warns, letting go of another long exhale. “My whole body hurts. My head feels like it’s about to split in a half and my feet are swollen. My back is sore, and lately I’ve been getting these contractions”

“The shower” Zoro inquires.

Sanji deciphers the meaning because yes, he had those contractions again when he was in the bathroom the previous day and he knew Zoro had been listening in so he assured with a whispered ‘I’m fine’. He nods slightly, “They’re not that painful but the pressure, man, it’s fucking uncomfortable.” He scrubs his palms over his face, “Rob said not to sweat it, but they’re so random and the aftermath leaves me a bit disoriented and light-headed.”

“Do we need to worry about an early labor?” Zoro asks in confusion.

“No,” Sanji said, now caressing his belly, “these are different so don’t worry, even Rob said they aren’t dangerous.”

Zoro nods absent-mindedly, his eyes looking over Sanji’s feet and, pretty soon, he pull them and places them over his lap. “Well,” he starts, “we can take this one at a time, deal with your sores first. We’ll figure out the rest later.”

Sanji lifts a brow in question and watches in amused rapt how Zoro massages his feet, the movements almost sensual. They manage to get a relaxed groan out of his parted lips, and his head slowly tips to the back and falls on the armrest. “You’re so massaging my back next.” He groans.

Zoro keeps his comment to himself, concentrating only on stroking the feet wiggling toes under his touch.

 

Zoro went back to work later and didn’t get the chance to massage Sanji’s back, but at least he kissed his mate and their unborn child goodbye and that sort of makes up for it.

 

Sanji lingers on the couch until Keimi walks in on him gazing at the large window walls, fascinated by the misty mountain summits and the rain drops slowly sliding down the glass. She sits on the sofa across his, arranging her skirt so it’s covering her thighs. The other looks up at her with a broad smile and she mirrors it, albeit faintly.

“I’m glad you’re fine.” She says, her expression turning grim. “To be honest, I was hoping I’d talk to you. I mean last time it really helped and this is really starting to bug me, and you’re the only one I can talk to about this.”

Sanji’s eyes glint, but nothing else is forthcoming.

Thing is, Keimi had an incident with her boyfriend –last year, was it– and not many people know of the details. Well, the pack for one, and apparently even Zoro. So here’s an inside take on what really went down, and this is Keimi’s side of the story: She was with Bart, her boyfriend at the time, in the latter’s bedroom, studying (and Sanji is putting the cap on this one and not diving into what other possibilities are there because no teenage couples with enough teenage hormones read through a chemistry book when they’re in a room alone. Anyway, not the point.) they were _studying_ when he accidently cut her palm with a stationary knife and panicked at the sight of blood. Keimi tried to wiggle her way out of it so he wouldn’t see the wound mending but, over-protective boyfriend alert here, in which he insisted to treat her injury only to come to the horrifying –but still damn awesome realization that she can heal, and pretty quick. Shocked, she left his house and the two hadn’t talk for a long while but then they overcame their fears –Bart’s, because Keimi is fucking fearless. Yada yada, they confessed their love again and they’re still seeing each other even now, or does Sanji need to worry?

 “Nami…” She starts, and Sanji pumps his own fist inside his head. He knew the two were acting awkward earlier. “You see, Bart is a bit of a dweeb but he’s still a nice guy, and I swear he didn’t mean to put any of us on blast when he made a joke about werewolves to the teacher. I know he went overboard with his joke but what Nami did was also unnecessary.”

Sanji nods.

“She threatened to rip his throat out, now Bart is not talking to me because he’s scared she might actually do it.” She whines, “I told her to apologize and that he’s different, he’d never tattle. She refused. She said I’m better off without him.”

Sanji furrows his brows.

“Sanji, the person I like is Bart.” She mutters, shyly. “But he’s been refusing to see me, and I think he’s even afraid of me as well.”

Sanji straightens properly in his seat, a hand levitating to scratch at his temple, “Kei, listen,” he starts, wincing at the response he can see coming after what he’s about to say. “I’m glad you came to me for help, but that’s something between you two and it’s up to you to work it out. Now I know what Nami did was wrong, but that’s not to say your boyfriend isn’t in the wrong here either.”

“I know.” Keimi seethes, tears of being wronged welling up in her eyes, “but he already apologized and promised not to crack any other werewolf jokes in the future.”

“Then I don’t see any reason for Nami to meddle in.” He says, “She did her job to protect your secret, and that’s very beta-like of her, but if your boyfriend already apologized then I think it’s safe to go.”

“But he doesn’t want to see me anymore.” Keimi grits out huffily, her tears finally falling down her cheeks.

Sanji’s stomach wrings at that. He really shouldn’t be poking his nose in to teenage love affairs but seeing Keimi like this just makes an itch in his skin rise. “Okay,” he shuffles to the edge of the sofa, knees parted, “let’s try and call him then, see if he can listen to reason.”

Sanji calls the guy from his own phone because Keimi told him he doesn’t pick up her calls. Indeed, Sanji does have a good talk with him but it doesn’t generally fruit anything because Bart insists on seeing him in person, to which Sanji replies with a gruff ‘just man up already, you bastard, it’s not like Nami will eat you’.

“No, but she can rip me apart if she wants.” Bart bites out.

“There’s no way she’d act up behind the Alpha’s back, so just chill.” Sanji tells him.

“I can’t,” the other whines, “I read about werewolves everywhere and it says their anger is their trigger, what if she snaps at me again.”

“I’ll be there to protect you.” Keimi cuts them off, her voice desperate.

Sanji’s lips part open as his gaze travels up to her.

“Bart,” she cranes her neck as she peers at the phone Sanji has put on the table after switching to the speakers, “you’re overestimating her too much, you know I’m strong too, so what are you still scared of?”

Sanji wants to hear the answer.

“I…” Bart’s voice is weak, probably overcome by tears. “I know that, Keimi, I do.” He reconfirms, probably for his own peace of mind. “I guess I just need some sort of proof that Nami won’t jump my bones if her period cramps are too much –you still get those in spite of being a werewolf, right? So I guess that’s what I want.”

Keimi flops back on her seat, defeated.

Sanji is running the talk about whether female werewolves get periods inside his head when Keimi hums for his attention, and he looks up. He finds her smirk widening into an impish grin. “Oh, I so don’t like that look, it’s the ‘I’ve just had an idea’ look, isn’t it?” he guesses on a weary sigh because he knows, whenever Keimi looks at him like that, he ends up down to his neck in trouble. “What do you want me to do?”

“We need a confirmation from someone who has authority and whose word can’t be brazened against, someone whom you can approach without getting clawed in the face–” Keimi cuts herself off when Sanji lowers his head. Finally coming to the realization that Sanji did get clawed, in the chest, and it was by no other than the person she’s been angling for Sanji to get a confirmation from. She feels her cheek becoming hot, as though steam is creeping under her skin, and she wants to take it back, so bad.  The way Sanji’s heart throbbed vigorously at the sentence and the way he quickly looked down to avoid her eyes, she can see how the memory is tearing at his heart right fucking now. “Sanji,” she tries to smooth things over, slowly lifting from her seat to try to come closer to Sanji.

“Don’t.” Sanji berates, his voice harsh from the lump clogging his throat.

Keimi freezes in her spot, although all she wants to do is go against his order and take him into a hug, she fears that her inner wolf is more prone to doing as the Alpha’s mate demands.

Sanji suddenly lifts his head, his smile broad and jubilant. “A confirmation from the Alpha” he nods, more to himself, “I can do that, it’s not like Zoro would mind. I mean you’re pack, first and foremost, so, yeah, I think I can do it.”

Keimi’s throat constricts, finally taking a speck of a taste of the Alpha and his mate’s buried agony and the little speed bumps the two keep stumbling across in their fight to settle down with every other fucking force in the universe wanting to literally tear them apart from each other. It’s not fair. It’s not fair that Sanji, a normal guy with an ordinary life, gets hurdled into this just because he wants to be with the person he loves. It’s not fair that Ronoa Zoro, the man who didn’t use to smile a lot and who, also, used to love his bedroom more than his pack before Sanji arrived in his life; it’s not fair to put him through an awfully agonizing reminder of how his mate can be snatched from him at any given second. And it’s not fair that, despite their unspoken ordeals, she still brings up her own unworthy, childlike dispute.

The two mates can do without it, they can use a frigging break, so why, why is Sanji still promising to help her?

“Alright, Bart” Sanji perks up with his usual wide smile, “We’ll get you the proof you want, in return, I want your word on something.”

“S-sure.”

“If she calls again, you pick up the god damn phone.” He fumes, balefully.

“I will, Sanji, I promise.” He stutters, voice cracking in the middle of the words. “I’m sorry for having troubled you with our problem.”

Sanji hums, “at least you have manners.”

Keimi then smiles genuinely this time and Sanji can see her fingers itching to call her boyfriend.

“Get out of here.” He motions with his head, a smirk pulling at his lips.

She nods fumblingly and hops her way out of the living room, her skirt bobbing around her thighs.

Sanji shakes his head, contentedly, before he switches to look at the large windows again. Ren moves and Sanji spreads his palm on his belly, rubbing dotingly. “You’re such a snuggle bunny.” He chuckles, “I’m fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

 

Nine and a half in the evening finds Sanji in bed, leaning back against the headboard and scrolling down his phone with the lamp of the nightstand to his side enlightening the room.

Earlier, he received a call from Zoro who wanted to be briefed on his condition and also apologized for he wouldn’t be being able to make it to dinner because he had a few clients to see after working hours. And only now does he return home, walks into the bedroom and immediately starts shrugging out of his shirt and his trousers. Then he flings ‘I’ll go take a shower’ before stomping his way out of the room. All under Sanji’s scrutiny.

Zoro walks back into the bedroom minutes later, a towel round his hips and another over his head. He saunters towards the armoire, opening its doors.

Sanji shoots him a sideway glance before he clears his throat, “so,” he starts, never removing his thump away from the phone screen, “how was work?”

Zoro pecks out a plain white T and black sweatpants, “Well it’s work, should it be fun?” he shrugs as he dresses himself comfortable.

“No, I suppose it shouldn’t.” Sanji nibbles at his bottom lip, “but how on earth would you know that yourself?”

Zoro reels around to cock his head at his mate.

Sanji scoffs humorlessly, “so are we going to pretend you went go to work when actually you didn't?”

“You  _spied_  on me?” Zoro marvels.

“I called Kuina on something right after you called me, and it slipped from her that you didn’t show up this entire afternoon.” Sanji scrutinizes at his mate, eyes daring.

Zoro musters on his poker face and shrugs.

“Look, man.” Sanji exhales, “I don’t want to sound like a jealous or, worse, a paranoid housewife –which I’m not, FYI– but how about you keep me in the loop so that the next time I wake up it’s not to some god damn news about a body mutilated to death in the woods!”

Zoro has lifted the towel to dry his hair, not very fond of hairdryers, are we? So when Sanji blurted that out, he couldn’t help his hands when they balled the towel and tossed it across the room. “You really have a way with words, J, you know that?” He snorts.

Sanji holds his glare for a moment before he deflates in on himself, eyes trembling. “I…” he winces, willing the words to come out, “I’m sorry, that was out of line.”

Zoro beholds him with a vague look, and then he shakes his head, “doesn’t matter.”

“Just” Sanji shifts in his position. If he could, he’d reach the other with his entire body, but damn that little thing called ego. “Don’t take LOA out of the frigging blue and not tell me about it,” he says, “do you have any idea the kind of nightmares I had going on in my head?”

Zoro’s stiff shoulders loosen up and he soon approaches the bed, sitting on the edge beside the other. “Nothing happened,” he assures, “I was out of town taking care of some business. I honestly thought it’d take only a couple of hours but I ended up with more work and I kind of lost track of time.”

Sanji’s bottom lip pouts, “What kind of business?”

“What was that about jealous and paranoid housewives?” Zoro teases.

Sanji’s face flushes, “I’m your mate and I have a right to know, and don’t think you can sweet talk your way out of this one, because you’re not.” He rebukes, “Now, spill.”

Zoro purses his lips on one another for a fleeting second, contemplating Sanji’s words in his head before he eventually nods, “You’re right.”

Sanji nods back.

“I was seeing an old friend of mine.” Zoro finally lets the other in on the mystery.

“Who’s that?” Sanji inquires.

“Betty,” Zoro replies, “She’s a former sex therapist who works as a psychologist in the town next door.”

Sanji’s eyebrows leap up to his hairline, “why the hell were you seeking a sexologist?”

Zoro looks down for a brief moment, his bottom lip slowly caught between his teeth. “I think you know why.”

Yeah, Sanji kind of has a pretty good damn idea why, “but this doesn’t require the help of any therapists.” He fumes, “Christ, Zoro, did you tell her about my episodes, too?”

“I had to.” Zoro shrugs slightly.

Sanji looks elsewhere, trying to have a rein on his anger. “Of course you did,” he scoffed, now looking back at Zoro.

“Sanji,” Zoro starts, “we need help –professional help. Now say what you want but I'm fresh out of ideas, and, honestly, I don’t even know how to help you get through it.”

“I’m not sick!” Sanji bawls, indignation seeping into his voice.

“I know that.” Zoro mollifies, shifting closer to his mate who lowers his head, “J, I’m not trying to make you feel bad about this; that’s why I didn’t tell you where I was going in the first place.” He sighs a little, lifting a hand to frame the back of Sanji’s head. “But I think it’s time for us to face it, we need help.”

Sanji eventually concedes that the Alpha’s words have bested him. “Fine,” he hisses, “So what did your  _shrink_  tell you?”

“We talked about dissociation and flashbacks during intercourse,” Zoro starts, “at first, she said she couldn’t decide anything until she talked to you, but, well…” he trails off.

Sanji smirks emptily, “You have the gift of gab, man, I’m sure you’d get your hands on national security secrets if you wanted.”

“It’s PTSD.” Zoro says, curtly.

Sanji’s eyes lock with his Alpha’s “but it’s not like this was caused by some sexual trauma or anything.”

“No, it was assault.” Zoro provides, and added “mine.”

Sanji tips his head to the back and shakes it in an exaggerated show of being annoyed, “We’re not doing this.”

“You want to bet?” Zoro dares.

Sanji glowers at him, but remains silent.

“Sanji,” Zoro shuffles even closer to his mate, voice tender. “Communication is key–”

“’Communication is key’? Is that what she taught you?” He scoffs, “Wow, Zoro, even my dog is bound to say something more interesting than that.”

“It’s how we can beat this. If you want to bail then fine, but we’d just end up stepping on the same rake. Do you want that or do you want to get better?”

“For the second time, you bastard, I’m n–”

“You’re not sick, I get it.” Zoro finished for him, now using his hand to tuck Sanji’s loose fringe behind his ear, “but I’m asking, please, Sanji just tell me what’s going on.”

Sanji feels his teeth clacking together in frustration, and, for the first time, he wishes he didn’t try to pry Zoro’s whereabouts from him. But, on the other hand, talking it out feels like it’ll work and Sanji wants that, he wants it to work so he can be more intimate with Zoro. “Flashbacks,” he starts, and Zoro nods, encouraging him to come out with the rest already. “Whenever I close my eyes I see flashbacks, they’re just images, really.”

Zoro strokes Sanji’s knee to provide some emotional support, the latter appreciates the gesture. “Let it out, J, once you say it, it’ll lose its power.”

Instead of hollering ‘what a douche’, Sanji wets his lips and readies himself to talk. His eyes are still trembling and unable to meet Zoro’s. “He appears in my head, big and scary. He’s got red eyes, elongated fangs and claws. He looms in on me, surrounded by darkness.” He squeezes his eyes shut, as though to escape the image slowly manifesting in his vision.

Zoro doesn’t even need to heighten his hearing to know that Sanji’s heart is about to beat out of his chest.

“His darkness encroaches on me…” he mutters, his pupils spinning under his lids. “I–” he whimpers, “Zoro,” his heartbeats are so loud in his ears and anymore of this and he’ll bolt out screaming, “Zoro, I can’t…”

Zoro quickly pulls him into a hug, shushing him gently. “You did well, Sanji, this much is enough for a start.”

So, basically, according to the visual portrayal that is, what Sanji sees during his dissociation is Zoro, in the wolf form, coming down at him? Wow. How is that for a possible long-term trauma since the trigger is right at Sanji’s freaking side 24 freaking 7!

“Listen here,” he cups the back of said man’s head again, and rejoices when Sanji presses against him, probably loving the warmth. “Your case needs a little time, but the treatment is out there. We have a better chance at cracking this up.” He says, nibbling Sanji’s soft hair, “I don’t want you to feel like I’m pressuring you. In fact, as long as we’re together like this, my dick is happy, but I wouldn’t mind going for more, I mean it’s sex.”

“Yeah.” Sanji agrees.

“What’s not to love?” Zoro urges.

“Hell yeah!” Sanji gushes in agreement.

They chuckle jointly, slowly pulling away from each other.

“Is it safe to assume you wouldn’t kick my balls if I asked you to talk more about this in the future?” Zoro asks, gentle hands sweeping Sanji’s hair.

“Depends on when you ask.” Sanji shrugs, “I feel strangely refreshed after that. I don’t know. The images are still there though.”

“So it’s working?”

“Maybe?”

“Should we stick to this method some more or do you want me to contact the doctor?”

“You mean your sexologist?”

“The psychologist.”

“Giving her a scientific moniker doesn’t change the fact that she’s your shrink.” Sanji is still smirking playfully.

Zoro ruffles the other’s hair, mirroring the smirk.

After they settle under the quilt with Sanji pressed up against Zoro’s chest, the latter nibbles more at the smooth hair with his lips, keeping the gesture shallow so it wouldn’t bring out the wrong reaction from Sanji.

 

What Sanji doesn’t know is that Zoro didn’t spend the entire afternoon with Bel Betty. It’s true it took him an hour to get to the other town, another to get his hands on what’s really going on with Sanji, and then another to come back, but the rest he spent investigating. Sanji might be treating this like a giant joke. Maybe he’s in denial or he just wants to keep a lid on some things because, according to him, they’re better left unsaid, but that’s not what Zoro signed up for. He knows his assault on Sanji has the biggest role in this mess. Normally, Sanji would just shrink away from his touch, especially if it was sudden; however, his reaction is far more concerning to be the result of an Alpha’s assault. While Zoro isn’t denying the fact that that could be traumatizing, all he’s saying is that the guy acts like he’d been raped, beaten to a pulp before he survived attempted murder, and it’s not merely histrionics. So, Zoro had to know. Since Sanji wouldn’t willingly bring it up because he also has too much pride; actually he mainly likes to turn his back on the problem and wait until it goes away on its own,  Zoro was left with no other choice but to ask around.

To ask around, he had to seek the people who had seen enough of Sanji after he left town, and more precisely, the one who’d been tagging along in Sanji’s tow ever since he walked through that portal at the cemetery a year ago.

 

After Sanji collapsed in this afternoon, Zoro had a little chat with Vivi’s spirit that wasn’t eager to ‘dispatch’ from the dog so he can understand her. Obviously, Sanji is the only one who can communicate with her mind, telepathy, or whatever, but she’s a ghost, and she can appear whenever she wanted to. After convincing her, she finally left the dog’s body and hovered over them like the ghost she is, transparent and scarred, fire ash flaking from her begrimed dress.

She told Zoro what he wanted to hear.

 

Four months ago, around May of 2016, Sanji left Kansan with the help of a witch he had met there a couple of months earlier. She had used her incantations to teleport Sanji back to here, but not to town.

Zoro, for the first time, learned that, in the past four months or so, Sanji had been living in the town next door. Actually, that’s not just it. He spent his time at the cabin he and Zoro had used as a hideout where Lin trained them.

 

 

 

_Vivi wasn’t so keen on bird hunting, or even deer chasing, but the vessel which her soul occupied had had that instinct and, gradually, she started to see how that is a good thing._

_Before they were teleported back to Wano, Sanji had permitted Charlotte, the young magic-practitioner whose incantations came in quite handy afterwards, to send him and Vivi to the place where he said he used to train with a retired hunter , swathed by a veil of an aura-concealing spell so that neither the Alpha nor his pack could sniff him out._

Dog jokes, really, Vivi?

_It was, indeed, an abandoned cabin on a treed mountain, but Sanji said that Zoro had told him in the past that the place is usually used by rangers or ardent hikers caught out in storms._

_Sanji placed his reliance on her to hunt down their food, and since his magic wasn’t returning and his belly was growing rounder and bigger, Vivi, for the first time, saw the purpose of her coming along. Sanji needed her help. He actually needed her when before he’d chastise her for even nudging his back to help him up after a bad case of morning sickness. The mountains were usually, if not very often, covered in thick mist. The temperature used to drop a lot in the evenings, and since Vivi is quadruped and covered in fur when she isn’t a ghost that you can phase through, Sanji had to do the rest on his own: Axing lumbers, collecting dew when the weather was giving them attitude and it was dangerous to meander their way to the river, setting rabbit traps and bird snares with branches of woods he would hew himself with cable wires he'd found in the cabin. He also had to get them both cleaned and, the most grueling of them all, keeping them both safe._

_After losing his magic, Sanji couldn’t heal, so every move had to be strategized, every action taken had to be studied first. Very slowly but surely, Sanji started to change into his own person. He no longer ran towards the word danger. He became more attentive and wary, calculating everything. Vivi assumed Ren had had a lot to do with it._

_Living in the wilderness with just his dog, Sanji grew more wordless. He talked, when he gave Vivi orders, but other than that, he had no reason to run his mouth off. Even though, sometimes, Vivi could feel how lonely it started to become for him._

_She remembered when they had first arrived there how Sanji’s face had softened and hiw his eye had glittered taking in the place. She knew he was reliving some memories, maybe even enjoying the privacy of his own monologue. Sanji had cried himself to sleep that night with his arm around Vivi as they snuggled on the pull-out bed._

_Sanji was actually becoming familiar with the nooks and corners of those woods, the bushes and the hills. He was adjusting pretty well, as though –and Vivi wasn’t certain she had the right to say this, but it felt as though Sanji belonged there. Sometimes, he’d walk Vivi up to a certain cliff when the weather was behaving, and he’d stand there for hours, just sky gazing. And to be honest, Vivi never grew tired of seeing him immersed in something he looked like he enjoyed greatly. When Sanji was like that, Vivi usually stepped back to allow him the vacant vicinity which he looked like he needed, always._

But then again, there’s always something to spoil the harmony.

_One day (she couldn’t remember the exact date), Vivi was hung up on catching this wild rabbit which had thought it was smarter than Man's Best Friend. Sanji had shouted after her to come back because he could feel a storm coming, but the dog’s instinct were something of yet another matter. The prey she had been tracking was then caught by someone else, and only when she stopped, her danger alarms going off, did she realize she was surrounded by wolves. She didn’t know but Sanji had obviously followed her. When he arrived to where she’d been, he found a pack of four tanned wolves crouching in a circle around her and snarling. Of course, Sanji quickly thought of chasing them off by fire, but when he stepped back, his foot broke a twig and two of the wolves perked their ears up at him and gaited stealthily to surround him as well._

 

“The tan-furred wolves,” Zoro echoed, interrupting her story, “they could have been the Wild Wolves. Although it was said the last of them was seen back in 1968, some of them still exist. They just don’t wander off near people.”

“They looked vicious.” Vivi informed.

“Probably the shape of their snouts and muzzles is what makes them look intimidating.” He told her, “They aren’t usually hostile.” He hummed, “how strange.”

 

_Just then, another wolf appeared, this one had gray fur and golden eyes, and judging by the slight changes in the packs’ demeanors, Vivi could feel it was their alpha._

_Even if Sanji wanted to fight, he couldn’t endanger the baby growing inside his belly. He was only at the end of the first trimester and if he wasn’t careful enough, his thin placenta could erupt inside, literally, and eventually that would lead to his death. But the circumstances were different and odds were against them, five wolves against a dog and a pregnant man, that wasn’t a dream. Before she knew it, and she’d been sure that even before Sanji himself had known it, the gray wolf, the one she’d concluded was the alpha, launched itself at Sanji. When she wanted to bare her fangs at the alpha’s haunches, the other wolves attacked her instead. Not long after that, she acquiesced to fighting the wolves back and let Sanji deal with the alpha. She believed he had a better chance to do the wolf in as long as he could fight it off, Sanji could turn the table and if he did, the betas would retreat because a pack is nothing without its alpha._

_Four wolves and a dog, it was already obvious who’d win from the get go. Vivi never really had a chance and sheer will wins you nothing during a canidaes' fight. She was soon flung to the ground with serious injuries over her face. For a reason, the wolves only attacked her muzzle and she knew it was an animal fight thing, damage the thing her kind rely on the most which is sense of smell. It was smart, wolves are indeed smart creatures, but what she couldn’t figure out was the wolf topping Sanji. Somehow, Sanji decided not to fight and he dropped the piece of branch he had in his hand._

_The wolves that attacked them weren’t half human, any hope they had had to reason their way out of it, vanished. She knew when Sanji came to the same realization. If he couldn’t defeat the alpha, there was no way he could defeat four grown-up wolves on his own without his magic, especially with Vivi’s injuries bleeding that much. So he let the piece of wood slide from his hand to the wet ground, and he dropped down to his knees, baring his throat to the alpha._

 

When Vivi reached this part of the story, Zoro had to stop her.

“That’s –” he cut her off, voice heavy with confusion, “does he even know the meaning of that?”

Vivi’s void eyes stared back at Zoro.

“Ever heard of throat clamp?” He asked her, a hand on Sanji’s naked knee and the other rounding the back of the sofa’s headrest. “It’s a subduing method which canids use occasionally to do their prey in, fangs grasp the throat of any prey, clamp tight until the windpipe is either crushed or blocked.” When she remained silent to his explanation, he released a heavy sigh, “It means that if Sanji knew the meaning of baring his throat to the alpha wolf, he either knew he was going to die and saw no way around it, or he knew he was going to die and just didn’t care.”

“I would have felt offended on his behalf” –Vivi confessed– “but the man I saw at that rainy night wasn’t the man I used to know.”

“Elaborate.” He ordered her.

 

 

_After Sanji dropped down to the wet dirt with a look of defeat about his face, tilting his head to the back and baring his throat to the wolf, the latter started to nudge his muzzle against Sanji’s neck, snorting and panting. The scenting reached Sanji’s belly and he started to visibly squirm, uncomfortable with anything touching his belly._

_They suddenly heard a low howl, pained and miserable._

_The alpha pulled away from Sanji, only golden eyes staring back before he trotted his way into the woods again, and as though sleepwalking, Sanji followed suit._

 

“Why the hell would he do that?” Zoro berated, still in a whisper so he wouldn’t wake said man up.

“He didn’t say anything, he just went after them.”

“And then” –Zoro gulped– “and then what happened?”

 

_Vivi managed to get back on her wounded pasterns, and she did contemplate going back to the cabin because she wouldn’t had been of any help to Sanji with her injuries anyway, but the howling came back and she couldn’t help it, and soon, she was following Sanji’s footsteps. She finally reached a clearing where she saw the pack and the alpha huddled together. And a little farther, Sanji was hunched on top of something. When she tried to approach him, the pack growled at her until she stopped._

_It turned out, another white-furred wolf, a female, Vivi could tell, had her leg caught in a bear trap and Sanji was trying to separate the two steel jaws apart so she could free her hock. Then he changed his tactics when she howled again, seemingly enduring a lot of pain. The alpha paced beside them as Sanji pressed down on the springs, and he elated when they compressed, they started to lower and the white wolf slowly and carefully released her hock from the jaws, whimpering when the pressure finally eased off._

_Sanji and Vivi watched as the alpha licked her wounds after she sprawled on the ground, her leg unable to carry her. And then the alpha licked her muzzle, his tail wagging sideways. Sanji even joked about bear traps ruining their date. He tore off his shirt and wrapped it around the wolf’s injury, carried her and Vivi each on a shoulder and went back to the cabin with the alpha sauntering at his side and the pack following closely behind._

_There was a first aid kit but with hardly anything useful to treat deep gashes, but when Sanji and Vivi were still in Kansan, the witch who helped teleport them here had spent some time teaching Sanji runes which he could use to heal wounds._

 

“Wait, so what you’re telling me is Sanji here” –he nodded towards the direction of his sleeping mate– “has mastered the skill of drawing runes?”

“He rarely ever uses them.” She told him, “Before we came back here, Sanji couldn’t use his magic, he couldn’t heal and he couldn’t reach out to the Imugi because the door had closed, and Sanji didn’t know how to reopen it again.”

“Okay, I vaguely remember something about that.” Zoro admitted, “So, did he use the runes on the wolf and you? Did it work?”

“Despite his lack of magic, the blood pumping through his veins is still magical.”

“Why am I getting a bad feeling about this,” Zoro mumbled before realization hit him, “wait, did he draw the runes by his blood?”

“It was the only way.” She confessed, “And the wolf and I healed soon after that.”

Zoro nodded, “it’s not like the first time he does something stupid like that, I mean he did draw a pentagram once using his blood, and I’m not exactly hedging my bets here by thinking he’d ever learn after one earful, but the story doesn’t stop here, does it?”

“Unfortunately, it doesn’t.” Vivi sighed, “A lot of things happened and if Sanji isn’t bringing it up then I respect his wish to keep things unsaid.” She said, “but this, you need to know.”

 

_A couple of weeks after the incident with the wolves, the weather grew hotter and the sky became clearer, the end of spring was promising a boiling summer but it couldn’t possibly be worse than the constantly raining days. It was easy to hunt and get fresh water from the river, no slippery hills and steep slopes, no more being cooped up in the cabin and waiting for the rain to let up. Well, a lot of things became easier to accomplish._

_There was a black-haired male mountain ranger, early thirties, 6′ 2″ tall. His name tag read Ben Beckman. He hadn’t showed up before that but when he did, he showed blatant curiosity towards them. He asked questions, lots of them. He investigated the cabin because, according to what she’d seen, the man thought they were harboring fugitives and there was no telling if he thought_ _they_ _were the fugitives. The first visit was to inquire and collect data on his small notepad, but then his visits grew more frequent._

 

At that part, hearing the story from Vivi, Zoro was sure one more word and he’d bolt out of the front door and run his way to the next town. He hadn’t even heard the full story yet and he already started to dislike this ranger.

 

_Sanji wasn’t stupid. Although he acted friendly to the ranger, he kept his own guards up._

_The thing is Sanji’s pregnancy tagalong symptoms were always in the way. It went beyond the normal morning sickness any other pregnant woman would have. They weren’t frequent but when they did appear, they were relentless. Vivi would find Sanji on the ground, curled up in the crummy bathroom, inside the woods or even at the veranda, with blood slipping from his lower body. They were always random. He would suddenly feel excruciating pain in his mid-section and fold in on himself to try to stop the pain. That never worked really and the only solution for him to not feel pain was to lose consciousness. Although that usually did the trick, it still left him wobbly and weak afterwards. He had explained it to her later in a brash ‘it’s because the placenta is expanding’ before he went on to his business. There were also his fever dreams. Sometimes he would spend the entire night on the bed, moaning in pain with these unnatural heat waves rolling off him, and a lot of those times, he would call out to Zoro in his pain-induced fevers. Sometimes he’d continue to sleep for more days, ashen faced, still limbs, shallow breathing, he always looked like he’d died in his sleep. And there was this time, actually make it two, when Sanji locked Vivi outside and she heard him moan. It always sounded like he was pleasuring himself, so, in both times, she’d assumed he was fondling himself, but when she heard him whimpering and grunting, letting out short sharp gasps, shuffling and slamming, she knew Sanji was dealing with something utterly terrifying, more than the random contractions of his placenta expanding._

 

“So what was it?” Zoro asked her.

“He was convulsing.”

Zoro chuckled but it was cut short by a scoff of disbelief, “you mean  _seizing_? He was seizing?”

“I managed to sneak into the cabin through the window during one of his convulsing episodes and found him on the floor, flailing and thrashing. I’d felt weird before both times, like I knew something was going to be wrong with him.” She said, “I’d feel the dog pawing and barking restlessly. I did not want to worry Sanji but it became certain when he kicked me out.”

Zoro looked over at his mate, “No way,” he mutters in a whisper, “is he epileptic now?”

“No.” She assured him, “I’ve seen people seize before, but what happened to Sanji in those couple of times… that was different. It’s as though he was aware of it. Also, he was naked.”

Zoro’s brows lifted, “Naked?”

Vivi sighed, “I asked him about it but he ignored me in both times, and I stopped asking when he didn’t seize again.”

Zoro squeezed the foot he had been holding in his hand.

 

_Back to the ranger who took it upon himself to visit more often when he wasn’t even welcomed, you see, the thing about treed, high mountains is that their weather is unpredictable. It’d reach thirty degrees outside but the humidity still brings in some rain._

_One rainy evening, Sanji and Vivi were sitting at the veranda. Sanji was reading a book gifted to him by another pack’s emissary, and Vivi was napping at his heel when she suddenly heard something loud: gunshots. The howling suddenly rumbled throughout the tree lines and, again, Sanji didn’t need to hear it a second time to shoot towards the source. His belly was the size of a balloon now and he needed to be careful where his feet landed._

_Vivi had seriously assumed they were going to find the pack of wolves again, but what they found instead became Sanji’s nightmare later._

 

“So it wasn’t the wolves again?” Zoro wondered.

“I know you’re upset, Zoro, and eager too, but can you please not interrupt me again?” Vivi pleaded.

 

_It was another wolf, a grey wolf, a male omega –since it had many scars and was by itself that was the only explanation. It was unfortunately shot and was taking its last breaths when Sanji and Vivi had gotten to it. But it wasn’t by itself. The ranger was there with his air rifle pointed at the poor animal._

_Sanji had tried to reason with the ranger to put his firearm away but, still hyped from the rush of adrenaline, the ranger switched to aim the rifle at Sanji instead. That had Vivi’s canines baring, and, soon, she was sinking her fangs into the ranger’s ankle, snarling and trying to pull him away. She’d hear Sanji shouting at her to stop but the more the ranger resisted and fought back, the deeper her fangs ankle-clamped him. The ranger was soon pointing his rifle at Vivi and he actually pulled the trigger. Luckily for her, Sanji had reached him before he’d do her harm. He swiped at his hands, making him lose grip on the firearm. The two soon engaged in a hand-to-hand, when Vivi launched at the ranger’s ankle again, she was kicked vigorously and flung to the side._

_From where she landed, she could see the ranger when he threw a punch to Sanji’s belly that had the latter doubling over. Vivi jumped at the ranger’s neck this time, but he was soon parting her jaw bones apart and tossing her against the bole of a pine tree. The ranger made his way to Sanji then, fisted the back of his hair and yanked it up. There was a look of triumph on his face. The blood running down his nose from where Sanji had hit him was slowly soaking his teeth, and when he grinned, he looked maniacal._

_He talked about Sanji’s pregnancy, and although neither Vivi nor Sanji told the ranger, the bastard had figured it out somehow, and he was appalled._

_He punched Sanji a few times across his cheek since it wasn’t protected, just to make a point. Sanji had locked his arms around his belly to protect it thus his face was left in plain sight, easy to attack. Vivi tried to get back up to help Sanji, but she became certain some of her bones were broken and she couldn’t manage more than a couple of steps before she fell down to the ground. The ranger pinned Sanji down and straddled his thighs. He hooked a hand to Sanji’s collar and the other groped the surface of the ground for a rock. Sanji tried to push the man off him but the ranger pressed more against him, finally grabbing a rock from the ground._

_Vivi remembered the scent of blood, hers and the wolf’s, she remembered the omega’s bleeding wound, vivid red that had dotted the gray fur coat. She also remembers the expression on Sanji’s face when the ranger had held the rock with two hands over his head, his eyes icy and sharp on Sanji’s._

_He’d talked about picking up on Sanji’s unusual pregnancy, how he couldn’t understand how a man could get pregnant. And he’d showed utter hatred towards the revelation._

_An abomination…_

 

“He called Sanji’s baby an abomination.”

 

_Another howl reverberated, this one more terrifying. It was the alpha wolf’s howl and soon they were all surrounded by tan-furred betas, like a déjà-vu. Only, the wolves were attacking the ranger this time, and despite himself, Sanji had let them rip the man apart to shreds._

 

“They killed him?” Zoro inquires hastily, his eyes wide and aghast.

“I think it had something to do with repaying a debt.” Vivi ponders. “The ranger was the one who set up bear traps in those woods. He was just so obsessed with getting his hands on the wolves.”

“People believe that the Wild Wolves don’t exist anymore,” Zoro explained why, “If you get your hands on one, how much do you think it’s worth in the black market?”

“So he was trying to sell them?”

Zoro shrugged, his hands slowly letting go of Sanji’s feet, claws spurting out, sharp and dangerous. He’d feel himself sitting on the edge of the sofa, little prompting and he’d shoot to his legs and kill something. “The body” crimson swirled in his pupils, “What happened to the body?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Reference to the Wild Korean Wolves.


	8. Chapter 8

 

 

**Guest Stars:**

 

**Katakuri**

**Conis**

Pudding **as Charlotte**

Ace **as Ace Mills**

**Din Roger**

Zenny **as Zenny Young**

Mad Treasure **as Hunter**

**Naomi**

**Bill Silver**

**Carina**

**Marco**

**Cosette**

 

 

 

 

_The debt had been paid off so the wolves no longer had a reason to loiter around the cabin. Though, Vivi believed the wolves enjoyed Sanji’s company and he enjoyed theirs. They weren’t always loitering, sometimes they’d disappear for days, and Sanji would sit at the veranda, staring off into the distance with a longing look._

_Vivi had been clear about what she’d wanted: inform the police about the body of the ranger so he’d be apprehended, or buried. Although Sanji saw reason in her plan, he also couldn’t help but worry because the body had been covered in proofs of an animal attack, and if the authority got wind of the info, they’d send huntsmen on a hunting expedition and that could endanger the wolves. Consequently, Sanji had had no choice but to use the runes, treat the visible wounds on the man before they ventured on to the town after sending the wolves away._

_Down town, he needed to use a phone, and since he didn’t have one on him the time he stayed in the cabin, he had used a phone booth. He had anonymously tipped the police about the body and had called Charlotte, who had soon used her Mojo to teleport them back to Kansan again._

_Vivi’s injuries were treated by Charlotte’s runes and healed quickly, but Sanji’s didn’t. He remained unconscious for the next couple of days, and while Vivi had been the one who sustained more injures, Sanji’s condition was a lot worse._

_Eventually, Charlotte helped him through it until he bounced back healthy and then returned to the cabin again._

 

And that is the story Vivi told him this afternoon.  

Zoro didn’t settle for only that, he had to know more. He contacted the other person who’d been with Sanji the most after Vivi when the two teleported to Kansan: Conis.

 

“Zoro?” Sanji suddenly cuts off the other’s chain of thoughts.

Zoro hums incredulously in response.

“You’ve been chewing on my earlobe nonstop, any plans to let me sleep tonight?” He quips on a smile that Zoro hears than sees, and he can’t help but smile, too.

“You remember the scent-marking thing, don’t you?” Zoro reminds, lips nibbling at Sanji’s sharp jaw.

“Speaking of which,” Sanji says, “I’ve been thinking–”

“Do I have to worry?” Zoro scoffs.

Sanji swats at his head with a hand, “no,” he grouses, bottom lip pouting.

“What?” Zoro takes it back to the topic.

“Do you have any memories of when” –he clears his throat suddenly– “you know” he mumbles, and Zoro knows the other is blushing without even having to take a look at his face because he can feel the man’s body temperature rising. “You and I, back at my place…”

Zoro smirks to himself as he pecks at Sanji’s neck, “You and I?”

Sanji huffs, “You know,” he says, “when we did that.”

“Did what?” Zoro teases.

“You’re really gonna make me say it?” Sanji grumbles, bewilderedly.

“Say what?” Zoro says on a chuckle that he can’t suppress.

“You’re horrible” Sanji concludes. “And I hate you.”

Zoro hugs him tighter as he laughs, “Sorry,” he says through smiling lips, “couldn’t resist.”

Sanji scrunches up his face, eyes narrowing into the darkness, “How can I even construe that as an apology?” he marvels, “you’re obviously enjoying this.”

Said male, instead of showing remorse, he barks another laugh.

Against his better judgment, Sanji’s lips end up parting and, soon, he is also laughing. The sound of Zoro’s laughter on his ear is just so pleasant to listen to, and, hey, laughing is contagious anyway, and he, this weak human creature that he is, can’t fight off a good laugh.

“And the answer to your question is no.” Zoro finally replied, “I don’t remember most of what I did when I turned, it’s blank, like a void in my memories that I can’t fill up no matter how hard I try to remember.”

“So it’s useless to ask why you turned that night.” Sanji states on a small defeated sigh.

“I’ll explain something to you so you won’t bring this up again.” Zoro’s velvety voice is curt, something about the whole ‘turning’ thing creeps him out and it sounds like he really is uncomfortable talking about it. “Remember when I said a bond was created when we mated for the first time?”

“Yeah” Sanji nods faintly, resisting the urge to make a joke about the last part, the mating part.

“So you also remember the part where I said I’d sense you always.”

“Yes, I do.” Of course he does.

“When you warped to Kansan, your existence suddenly vanished. I don’t know how to explain it right, but I’ll try.” Zoro lets out a small sigh, and although Sanji can see his lover struggling with the memories of those unfortunate months, he remains silent because he really needs an answer. “For a few days, I couldn’t sense you, not as strongly as I used to anyway.” He starts, “and then, after a week or so, I’d sense you again, strongly. Then I learned that I’d turned before that which was probably the reason why I could sense you again, the heightened senses of my wolf helped me reestablish the length of my powers. But when I tried to follow your scent, I couldn’t. I was growing impatient, so was my wolf.”

Sanji’s body shudders.

“Your scent was slowly wearing off in your apartment, and I’d burnt the house down so I didn’t know where else to be to get a whiff of your scent again, and that, that really drove me mad.” He says simply in his dark and low voice, and Sanji tries not to preen too much into it. “When you came back, your scent was overflowing, literally.”

“That’s” Sanji looks for the appropriate word but ends up scoffing “charming.”

Zoro shakes his head, his hair tickling Sanji’s nape. “You didn’t smell like me and that must have done something to my wolf,” he admits, “the closer I got to you, the stronger the desire to scent-mark you grew in me, and eventually, I lost to that side.”

Sanji gives himself a moment to let the input sink in, and then he realizes something. “This wolf thing” he starts, “I’d never get used to it, dude.”

“You’re the one who brought this up.” Zoro defies.

“Say” Sanji palms the hands wrapping his middle, “you really hate talking about that?”

“I hated reminders.” Zoro admits, burying his face in the crook of Sanji’s neck. “I still do, Sanji. And, thinking I’d someday go on without you... I hated it.”

“You” Sanji gulps, eyes wide in the darkness, “you never told me any of this,” his brows tremble as he attempts to rephrase his words, “or put it that way, for that matter.”

“Do I look like an ardent fan of chick-flick to you?” Zoro asks on a snort.

“Zoro,” Sanji said. His voice faint, down to almost a whisper, “I know it wasn’t easy for you to tell me all that, and I think it’s only fair to keep you in the loop. I mean I’d decided to leave everything behind and move on when I relocated back to this shitty town, but I’m scared they’d come back to haunt me and you’d think I didn’t trust you enough to tell you.”

Zoro remains silent.

 

**Meanwhile in Wano High**

Wano’s born and raised 45 year-old spectacled Zenny Young currently works as the custodian of this school. He started here five so odd years ago and he regrets it ever since; he should have applied for some well-endowed company in Gashima District instead of emptying trash bins at eleven in the evening. Sometimes, he’d swear his name is mocking him. Building Maintenance Professionals his ass, he’d settle for a day without having to go through the boys’ dirty bathrooms, or, God, cleaning the blood-soaked pads stocking the bins at girls’ bathrooms.

He’s emptied the bins, cleaned the bathrooms and stocked them with supplies, vacuumed and mopped the floor, and now he decides to go back home to his family. It’s been a long day anyway. He heads towards the door leading to the hallway and locks it. Approaching the storage room outside, he piques on a thud coming from the inside, and then rattling startles him. Soon, he is fumbling with his key ring; there are more than forty keys to go through for the one sought after and the rattling inside the storage has already grown more frantic.

At the moment of dither, Zenny’s resolve to unlock the latch almost falters, but when the rattling halts all of a sudden, he parts the door open, hearing the hinges creak as he pulls the flashlight from the belt of his overalls. He sheds the light on the place, and just at the forefront of the stacked-up school chairs, there’s a heap of black goo slowly flowing towards his boots, gloppy and malodorous. It solidifies when a wind surges in through the door left ajar.

The janitor peers into the source of the goo, if there’s a leak of some sort he’d get it fixed before he goes home. He’d be smelly afterwards but the headmaster won’t have anything to hold on him; that grumpy old man who enjoys making his life miserable rather than enhancing the school’s curriculum. Does he know, that based on academic scores, they rank as one of the worst hundred and something high schools in the country? He needs to have his priorities sorted.

The center of the goo starts to bubble up, as though boiling at 350 degrees and the janitor sees no cooking pot. So unless this goo has a conscience of its own, this Prometheus shit is taking it too far and he doesn’t get paid enough. Just to spite him, maybe, the goo erupts like a volcano, splashing his face and his uniform. _Great_ , just what he needed. He removes his glasses, the contour of his eyes and teeth the only things that didn’t get mudded by the slimy substance. Through his hazed vision –he’s 45, of course he’s short-sighted– he sees something rising up from the mess, and for a second he swears Gloppy has made it to Wano from Candy Land. Gooey tentacles shoot towards him and wrap around his neck, the janitor quickly puts his glasses back on. He changes his mind about Gloppy; this guy looks like Ben’s Goop. He remembers the youngest of his grandkids, Jack, gushing on about it after his parents bought him a Ben 10 watch.

 

**Twelve months ago in Kansan.**

_“And then she showed up, that witch who belongs in Mia’s pack_.” Vivi had been recounting the story of her death and resurrection to a Sanji mesmerized by the place the portal had taken them to, after he checked himself out of the health center. “ _There’s no way to stop her. She was too powerful, still is even if you sent her and her pack away.”_

“I don’t get it,” Sanji winced in confusion, “you knew she’d come to kill you, and yet, you did nothing to save yourself.”

 _“There was no use; she’d have found me anyway.”_ Vivi sighed. “ _And what they did to you, it was cruel.”_

“They _burned_ you alive,” Sanji told her, “I think you take the win here.” He stopped in his tracks, wide eyes scanning his surroundings, “Also, where the hell are we?”

They’d walked down a few blocks and were now standing in the main street –with hardly any pedestrians walking by. A snow-capped mountain stood tall a couple of miles away. Low, dark clouds covering the town and hovering around the peak of the mountain.

_“Let’s look around and see.”_

They crossed the road and eyed the roofing and the sidings of the two-story buildings lined along the street, the foreign features passing them by, the foreign words on signboards of stores and shops on either side of the street, and down the entire arcade; that wasn’t Wano.

They saw a Whistlers Restaurant board on one of the buildings and Sanji started to have an idea about their location. Then another board with the town’s map affirmed his suspicion. The portal had taken them to Kansan.

“Oh, no.” Sanji grunted, “We need to go back.”

 _“Are you going to use the portal again_?” Vivi asked, worry evident in her voice. “ _Aren’t you still injured?”_

At that, Sanji felt his chest injury, fingers barely ghosting over the fabric. “I’ll be fine,” he told her, taking the next turn to a vacant alley. He commenced casting the spell which, unfortunately and very unexpectedly, didn’t work, and although he tried many times after to cast other spells, his magic was just… gone.

Getting over the shock had taken him some time but he wasn’t ready to be a despondent asshole just yet, he’d do it on a full stomach.

With Vivi sauntering by his legs, Sanji trudged his way into a mini mart to pick a few chocolate bars and some snacks, and gauze if they had any. Walking between the narrow aisles, Sanji listened to Vivi talking about his horrible dictionary, and none of them had noticed the tall man in a white dress shirt and black trousers approaching them from behind. After Sanji had picked some dog food, a couple of chocolate bars and an adhesive bandage pack, the man suddenly cleared his throat that it startled both Sanji and Vivi.

“Sir,” The cleft-chinned man started, amber eyes glinting under the fluorescent lamps, thin lips slowly smirking, deepening his odd dimple. “Pets aren’t allowed in.”

Sanji, of course, had no idea what the man had just said because he simply didn’t understand a word. He did, however, understand the notch of the pain that slowly started to build up in his head. Vivi translated what the man had said, she fidgeted beside him and soon swiveled her body around and darted towards the entrance. The man cocked a sharp brow at her and then he cocked that brow at Sanji who, fervently, delved into his pockets, fished out some money, but realizing it was a different currency, he dumped everything, including the grocery, into the man’s hands and scurried past him. The man soon had his hand on his elbow, stopping him.

“Sorry,” Sanji said informally, and soon correcting himself, still, in his language. “I’m very sorry.”

The man’s nose flared, as though smelling something on Sanji and that alone had vexed him. Sanji bowed his head, trying to retract his hand, but the man’s was anything but loosening.

“I said I was sorry,” Sanji gritted out, cheeks flushed from the exertion. “Let me go.”

The man only glared back, eyes looking keenly into Sanji’s.

“Please…” Sanji rasped. His chest was throbbing, his head too. He just wanted a little relief from the pain already, and the man was only making everything worse. “Just let me go already.”

And then, the man freed him.

 

The evening had gotten colder and darker soon after with Sanji roaming the streets and Vivi in tow. He’d asked some woman for help but she’d panicked and scurried away from him, and he didn’t want to feel humiliated like that again. He’d walked up to a small park and slumped down on a bench, and waited. He wasn’t feeling his body cooperating with him, and by the time he decided to set aside his fear of getting rejected, most of the shops had had already closed down and the street lights had been lit.

“You’re the guy from before.”

Sanji looked up from his slouch, and saw the man from the mart standing before him, hands tucked inside the pockets of his black coat. Vivi translated what he’d said, and Sanji sighed.

“Oh, that’s just great.” He mumbled to himself.

“Here” the man took out a blue pack of adhesive dressing and tossed it to Sanji, “Trust me,” he added on a small smirk, his jaw clenching. “You don’t want it to get infected.”

Sanji scrutinized the pack with a frown.

“Don’t tell me you can’t read, too.” The man chuckled.

Vivi translated that and quickly barked at the man who laughed in return at her getting offended on Sanji’s behalf.

“You’re not from around here, are you?” The man told him as he narrowed his eyes on their surroundings when a chilly wind had whooshed, and then at Sanji’s eyes, “a drifter?”

Sanji shook his head, and he soon regretted the movement as the surroundings spun before him. He grunted, leaning forward and almost falling off the bench had it not been for the man who deftly sat Sanji up properly, worried eyes scanning the sweat sheening his face.

“The injury,” the man said, “show it to me.”

Sanji shook his head again, there was too much concern, too much touching, and too much heat. He squirmed in the man’s hands the longer the latter uttered words of assurance or hushed him gently.

“Your chest is bleeding.” The man pinpointed.

Sanji looked down at his left dip; blood was soaking his shirt and staining his jacket. And the man was soon lifting the hem of the shirt up and hissing at the mess underneath the fabric.

“Who did this to you?” he demanded, holding Sanji by the upper arms.

Vivi next to them snarled at the man to let Sanji go, but he flashed red eyes at her and she lowered her head, flattened her ears back against her head and tucked her tail between her legs.

The man looked back at Sanji, the glare softening gradually after taking in the predicament of the stranger. “Please, I won’t hurt you,” he reassured, “these claw marks, this is really serious. _Who_ did this to you?”

Sanji smacked the man’s hands away, and tried to flee from the unneeded physical contact, from the superfluous questions and from the gentle hands that seemed to be the only thing that had showed him kindness in months. But then he was soon heading face first to the asphalt.

 

When he came to again, there was a roof over his head, a bed under his back and a warm quilt on his feverish body, and he was shirtless.

“Oh, you’re up.” Blonde hair gleamed under the golden light coming from the bedside lamp, blue eyes radiated with warmth as the woman smiled down at him.

Sanji scowled and looked away at the wall panels, the sour taste in his mouth making him nauseous. The woman brought a damp towel and made to place it on Sanji’s forehead but he recoiled, until she assured him that all she wanted was to help bring his fever down.

“My name’s Conis,” she introduced herself with another amiable smile, “the man you met before is my husband, Katakuri.”

Vivi at the foot of the bed explained what the woman had said and Sanji, against himself, realized he had no objections with exchanging names.

“Sanji.” He rasped out.

She smiled happily as though she’d reached an accomplishment getting his name, “Nice to meet you, Sanji,” she gushed, “Are you hungry? I made some soup.” She told him, and by the look on her face, Sanji had assumed the way he looked at his dog before replying made her curious.

Vivi would always tell him what to say, word by word, and all Sanji had to do was repeat those words. Sometimes, he’d even tell her the sentence he wanted translated when he wanted his own answer to a specific question, but that was after the married couple learned about Vivi.

After the soup, Katakuri also came into the room, relaxed in his black hooded sweatsuit. He smiled to his wife, who was now collecting the bowl and the spoon onto a platter and scurrying out of the room, and then he smiled to Sanji who only looked down over his lap.

“Connie’s soup is a magical remedy, heals everything.” He joked as he sat down on the chair beside the bed Conis had just emptied. “I don’t want to impose but those marks on your chest” he hinted “it’d be really problematic if you don’t tell me how you got them, or if something from this town did that to you.”

Sanji shook his head.

Katakuri let out another sigh and propped his elbows on his lap, “Look, if you’re trying to protect someone by not telling me, then you have nothing to worry about. I promise I’ll keep the Animal Control out of it.”

Sanji then spoke to Vivi, and she translated his words so he’d tell Katakuri what he wanted to hear. “I have a dog,” he said, “she got excited when we first arrived here and scratched me, and that is that.” And he apologized to Vivi for blaming it on her.

“You’re lying.” Katakuri said in clear statement.

“No, I’m not.” Sanji insisted.

“Okay, fine.” Katakuri’s lips curled into a knowing smirk, “Let’s suppose you aren’t,” He said, and looked at Vivi, “You know, German Shepherds are known for their beautiful trotting gait. It becomes painful for them to walk or run if their nails are too long, but since this one’s been hopping the entire time you were asleep, I’m guessing her nails have been recently trimmed and can’t be over 3mm long.” He looked at Sanji now, “The marks on your chest though, well, those are an entirely different case. The cuts are about 3cm deep, say about two inches?” he shrugged, “a wolf’s nails grow up to 2cm, but when they graze, only four marks are left, sometimes three, but it still doesn’t add up because they rarely attack humans.”

Sanji kept on listening to Vivi’s explanation, his face slowly growing even paler.

“Another animal that goes about in this town’s wilderness is the black bear, and I’d like to do the math for you.” He grinned, thin lips parting. “Unlike the grizzlies, the black bear’s front claws are lighter and shorter. Grow up to 5 cm, which could fit the profile. Only problem is, they leave five claw marks since they have five digits, sometimes four. And the fact that you wouldn’t be alive and kicking if you were attacked by one.”

Sanji’s eyebrows trembled.

“ _You,_ drifter _,_ only have three claw marks.” Katakuri discerned, “deep enough to cut the tissue and cause damage. I’m pretty sure there was even massive blood loss which explains the shaky legs, pale face and the dizziness.”

“It doesn’t concern you.” Sanji hissed.

“Considering I’m the one who saved your life, I should at least get an idea on what attacked you.” Katakuri mused.

Sanji didn’t say anything.

Katakuri let out a sigh, “I’ll put it simply,” he said, “Was it a pack thing?”

Sanji’s eyes shot open at that.

“Bull’s-eye.” Katakuri chirped, “Were you kicked out of your pack?”

Sanji looked down and nodded his head very slowly.

Katakuri made a noise in his throat, as though he’d acknowledged the happening, “The alpha?”

Sanji nodded.

“But judging from your scent, you’re not a werewolf” he noted out, “but you also smell like you’re mated with one.”

“You’re a werewolf, too?”

Katakuri nodded on a cordial smile, but it also looked lonely. “I used to belong in a pack, but just like you, I got kicked out.”

“I’m sorry.” Sanji told him in consolation.

“You shouldn’t be,” he suddenly gushed, “I chose Conis and I’m happy with my life here, with her. When my pack didn’t accept our love, I chose this for myself. I don’t regret that.”

“She’s nice.”

“She is, isn’t she?” Katakuri said, “Also, you need to introduce your dog to us, she looks really smart.”

 

 

Sanji remained secretive about his magic for a few more weeks. He didn’t want a repeat of the same mistakes again: trust someone only to get backstabbed; well, except he got clawed in the front. Katakuri and Conis learned about Vivi, and, although that would have sent a normal person running for their life towards the other direction, the couple gave themselves a moment to come in term with the info, and soon they were moving on with their life.

He was also introduced to the staff of the store: twenty-one-year-old Marco (ear-length blonde-bleached hair, blue eyes, square face, and he liked to dress up like a typical hippie) and twenty-year-old Din Roger (Golden curly hair she liked to style into a high bun, bunny front teeth, hazel eyes, a lonely dimple on her right cheek).

Sanji worked as their delivery guy, and for someone who couldn’t speak or write the foreign language well, that was getting too much credit. Katakuri was a gentle man. His staff respected him and his clients admired him. He usually hid those gentle demeanors under that stoic face, but all he had were good intentions. He reminded Sanji a lot of Zoro, a fucking lot, which was why Sanji usually avoided direct contact with him unless it was work related. He’d moved out of Katakuri’s to Din’s for a couple of weeks until his first paycheck, and rented a studio.

He’d tell Katakuri noticed the withdrawing behavior, the apathy targeted towards him in spite of the fact that he’d been the only one to really understand Sanji’s feelings. Being near him reminded Sanji of his past, and he didn’t want to have anything to do with his past anymore. So he avoided any reminders, including Katakuri.

 

It wasn’t long after that that Kansan town came across a new threat that, for some whatever fucked-up reason, liked to skulk in the sewers.

Sanji’s headache went up a few notches the day they were going to discover the Afanc. Although he built up a policy to never get unnecessarily close to Conis and Katakuri, he eventually found out that it was hard to keep up to that policy when it came to keeping people safe. He cornered Katakuri after one of his deliveries and told him about the possible threat looming on them, how it might be danger, and all Katakuri said in comment was ‘how do you know?’ which wasn’t in plan. Sanji left without another word.

Later that day, two people were rushed to the health-center with an odd case of poisoning. And at night, half a dozen people were hovering between life and death. Whatever it was, it was spreading fast. Katakuri called Sanji later, and the two headed to the patients’ room, examined them. Didn’t help that the patients were showing some sort of bad reaction to whatever they ate or drank, but it certainly helped in Sanji and Katakuri’s investigation. So as they listed the things that could have caused the ‘plague’, Marco, being the Merlin-freak he always tended to be, pinpointed the monster they’d been dealing with in a flippant manner.

Underground, Katakuri skulked carefully ahead with Sanji following closely behind. Amongst the distant droplets echoing off and the awful methane stench, Sanji could feel Katakuri’s tensed frame. He knew that man had had things on his mind that he’d been waiting for a chance to talk about to Sanji, and although it was understandable, check-flick in the sewers was something Sanji aspired to avoid. Movement ahead granted him the free pass from any emotional talk as they readied their lighters because, according to Marco, according to the Myth, the Afanc’s weakness is fire. But then they bumped to someone unexpected, a beautiful young woman in floral mini dress, a torch in hand, like, what are the odds. After they all squeaked like little girls, hands on their chest to stop their hearts from beating out of their chests, they took a second to eye each other.

“Charlotte?” Katakuri exclaimed.

“Uri?” she exclaimed back.

“It’s Katakuri.” He hissed.

“What’re you doing here?”

“What’re _you_ doing here?” he breathed out in accusation, “you’re inside the sewers in a floral dress.”

Charlotte eyed the said dress and then looked up with a guilty smile, “busted.”

“It’s dangerous,” Katakuri commented, eyes now looking around them, “Come on, let’s get ya outta here.”

“Um, no?” Charlotte tilted her head. “Not until you tell me what you two are doing here.”

Katakuri looked at Sanji, who shrugged, and then back at Charlotte, “we got complaints from some clients.”

“What sort?”

“Sightings of a crocodile in the sewer system”

Sanji winced, “You’d have come up with something better than that.” Because, really, a crocodile, in the sewers?

Katakuri faced him, “Well, I’m sorry, I happen to be a bad liar.”

“No argument there.” Sanji shook his head sadly, now looking at Charlotte who’d already been staring back at him, “what’s a girl dressed like you doing here past her curfew?”

“I’ll have you know I’m twenty six, thank you very much.” She groused, “And the reason I’m here is the same reason as _you_.”

“To waste Afanc?” Sanji scoffed.

Charlotte looked confused for a moment before she nodded, “That’s right.”

Sanji scrunched up his face in distaste, “Look, lady” he said in respect, though the lady part was to tease her, “How about we get you out of here. There’re enough bodies filling the emergency room, they don’t need you to pile it on.”

Charlotte, obviously offended, reeled around, huffed and stomped away from them. Katakuri looked back at Sanji apologetically, like it’d been his fault it all happened. Blaming himself like a particular maso bastard with a martyr complex, and didn’t Sanji say he hated reminders!

They suddenly heard a roar. The Afanc had somehow known about their arrival and had set up an ambush for them, and for a quadruped lizard, that Afanc was pretty damn smart. This and that, and Charlotte got tackled down and Sanji flung to the side. So Katakuri had no other choice but to wolf out in front of them.

The Afanc and Katakuri had a one-on-one but it wasn’t like humans like Charlotte and Sanji would stick to the rules. Charlotte, mischievous and unpredictable, mumbled an incantation that brought sudden wind whooshing, torch fire blazing, and then the two elements fused together and attacked the Afanc who got grilled like a fish.

Turned out, Charlotte inherited her grandmother’s knowledge of spells and incantations, and unlike her mother, she had talent.

After they left the sewers, Sanji and Charlotte had a better chance at getting introduced to each other properly. Hearing his name, Charlotte cocked her head with amusement glinting in her eyes.

“The last Mage” She spoke in his language. “And Ronoa Zoro’s mate.”

Sanji furrowed his brows deeply at her, hands fisting at his sides.

“What is a mated Mage doing here all by himself?” she bit back, this time in her language. “If Ronoa Zoro is known for something, it’s his temper. I don’t supposed he’d appreciate you coming here on your–”

Sanji turned around and left, not wanting to hear the rest. Katakuri was soon chasing after him.

“Hey, what’s wrong, you just bailed out without a word.” He appeased, “did you get upset by what she said?”

Sanji’s gait quickened, eyes looking nowhere but at the road ahead. “Not really.”

Katakuri bustled to keep up the pace, “Really?” he mused, “because to me you look like you’re beyond pissed.”

Sanji’s quick pace didn’t ease, not one bit. “What’s it to you?”

Katakuri cursed and his hand was soon on Sanji’s elbow, pulling him and swiveling him so they were facing each other. “Is this about your Alpha?”

“He is not my Alpha.” Sanji bit out, acidly.

“Alright,” Katakuri nodded indistinctly, “but he was, and you mated with him” he pointed out, “That’s not something you can run away from, J.”

Sanji snorted, “Thanks for the support.”

“Look,” Katakuri’s eyes bore into Sanji’s, his hand gripped tighter on his elbow. “I know that you want to cut all ties and move on with your life, but we’re not talking about some random human guy here, Sanji, the guy is a werewolf, and a born Alpha, and you two already bonded.” He explained, “You reek of him.”

Sanji’s eyes shot open wider at that, “but that’s not possible,” he said, “it’s been weeks.”

Katakuri saw no hesitation in him, so he provided, “I cannot break that bond, but I can get rid of his scent.”

“How?”

“By scent-marking you,” he offered, “If you don’t want a pack, that’s fine with me, but if you really are what Charlotte said you are, then you’re going to need protection.”

Sanji scoffed and looked away, “You’re going to protect me?”

“If you want my protection, then, yes, I will.” Katakuri replied, the chivalry of a noble. “And if you want a pack, I’d never turn you down. Although, I think we already are, a pack, that is.” He said on a smile.

 

 

 

After a day’s recess, the poisoned people in town made a miraculous recovery. After all, Afanc had been burnt down to crisps of scaled skin and grotesque facial distortions.

Sanji’s visit to Charlotte’s became more frequent. At first, the inquiry was about her incantations. He perceived the peril of having his magic take an impromptu LOA, placing his life in jeopardy because –for some odd reason, his blood would remain radioactive no matter how much cologne he poured on himself. Katakuri had been quite clear about that: There was something inside Sanji, beyond his cheap cologne, underneath his innate scent, something smelled unearthly; hence seeking Charlotte for aid.

It’s not like there was a road map for dealing with her that he could purchase online, even his Math teacher in the fourth grade had been more tolerable. Charlotte just hated dealing with people. The only things that got her gears wheeling were the topics about Sanji’s love life –and that he wasn’t ready to share, never would, for that matter– and his blood. The latter he appreciated. Although it took a few persuasions from her part to finally get him to talk about it because he feared he’d be risking a lot by telling a stranger, he eventually crossed that bridge and shared the secret with her.

She trained him, taught him all the incantations she knew of. Sanji couldn’t understand her choice of location because she’d take them to this abandoned cabin on the bank of a small creek a couple of miles from town, before taking out her treasured spells’ book out of her backpack. Maybe she simply didn’t want folks to see two human beings forging a cyclone out of a tiny stream, it happens.

In between, Katakuri kept his promise about scent-marking Sanji.

Sometimes, after Sanji would bring in new deliveries, Katakuri would take him into a hug out of the freaking blue, which always ended in the staff joining, turning the entire thing into a group hug. But other than that, it –the scent-marking thing– mainly remained about stealing moments when the staff wasn’t looking, to touch.

The first time it started, it caught Sanji totally off-guard.

He’d backed up the pick-up truck against the door of the storage room in the back, and had been taking boxes and placing them inside when Katakuri showed up suddenly. Sanji had looked up to acknowledge his presence, and Katakuri had asked how Sanji was finding his new job. When he finished, he walked up to the back truck door where Katakuri had been sitting, and he sat down on it with his hand taking the offered cigarette from Katakuri. They had joked about keeping it their little dirty secret and oddly something about a deck chair on the face of the moon. Sanji had felt really appreciative to have someone to talk to, even if he had to use sign language sometimes to get the point across. Katakuri had always indulged him and listened to him.

Katakuri had brought up the topic about Sanji’s scent which the nicotine sticks couldn’t mask, and, all too soon, he was leaning into Sanji’s space, nose ghosting the blond man’s neck. Although Sanji had worded his discomfort, the complaint was gone when Katakuri bracketed him against the truck and buried his face in the curve of Sanji’s jaw.

Sanji had allowed it because he had started feeling a little nostalgic, like he had been growing yearning. He had allowed Katakuri to press up against him and growl over his skin, and he had felt alive in its wake. Zoro was something from the past, and Katakuri, although somehow a temporary replacement, had scent-marked Sanji despite the man’s emotional luggage.

Usually, Katakuri didn’t touch more than necessary. He would, however, always graze Sanji’s neck with his fangs and growl against the skin, which usually caused Sanji’s heart to flutter and pound at the same time, before the latter would bolt up and scamper to the way out. Even back then, there was this residue of false hope that Zoro would come back claiming what’s rightfully his and kiss Sanji’s neck. It never happened though, and Katakuri didn’t stick his nose where it didn’t belong.

In the span of a relatively short time, Charlotte had taught him things which he could do with his blood that he never knew were possible. Soon, his show of gratitude turned into desperate arms clinging to slender shoulders in the dread of the night, sad whimpers echoing in the dimly-lit room and asymmetrical panting cutting off sobs of not wanting to go through with it yet still doing it. Charlotte never asked why a grown ass man like himself cried himself to his climax, but he appreciated her going out of her way to help him orgasm since he couldn’t do it the ordinary way anymore. Sleeping with Zoro changed things, a lot of things.

Charlotte and Sanji shared that bed together because they were just two lonely people helping each other out, and when morning came, they acted like nothing had happened.

The thing Charlotte kept from him, and which he learned a month after, was that his ability to wield magic didn’t require incantations witches and sorcerers use to cover their absence of natural magic power. But since his magic didn’t even work at all, he assumed taking baby steps –using spells and incantations, was bound to make him a better mage.

A few weeks later, a pack of (stupendously good-looking) anomalies led by the twins Hunter and Naomi crossed the borders Katakuri had created to mark his territory. He was the only werewolf in the town, but that didn’t mean he didn’t care about setting his rules. Conis and Sanji were basically his pack so he wasn’t miserable. Charlotte always joined their meetings so, technically, she was pack, too. Feeling the new presence, Sanji and Katakuri, with the help of Charlotte, headed towards the source of the intrusion, finding the four-member pack –including the leading twins– rooted to their spots in a line, not daring to step any farther until matters were cleared out.

‘The children of the Moon’ is what Hunter called his pack.

“We wish your town no harm,” Hunter spoke, voice husky. His black eyes twinkled with something dangerous and dark, but not evil. “A Vampire has caused my pack a bit of a” –he looked at the young woman at his side as he grappled for the word before looking back at Katakuri again– “hindrance.”

“So what business do you have in my town?” Katakuri inquired.

“We’ve been in the trail of this Vampire for a couple of months now,” Hunter elaborated, “last we heard she headed here.”

“We’ve heard of no such thing.” Katakuri provided, “Otherwise she would have been dealt with.”

“I’m sorry but this is no ordinary vamp.” Naomi huffed, a sharp brow lifting threateningly. “If she managed to come all the way here, she’d go easily undetected, and not even your nose can catch a whiff of her scent.”

“ _Naomi_.” Her brother said in warning and Naomi looked down, shoulder stooping. Hunter looked up at Katakuri, “We won’t be long.” He said, “We just want that Vamp and we’ll be out of your way before you even know it.”

“On one condition,” Katakuri offered. “My pack and I must be kept in the loop.”

Hunter nodded his head.

 

Their pack of anomalies settled down in the town with brazen precautions. They laid low and avoided unnecessary contact with other humans, which, in all honesty, Katakuri appreciated; otherwise they’d to deal with _unnecessary_ lights being shed on their true identity which he pretty much liked to keep undisclosed. Katakuri’s pack had a free pass, though, and Sanji was the one required to make deliveries when Hunter’s pack needed something.

The place the pack settled in was near the only restaurant in town that reminded Sanji of home, a restaurant Sanji had had been to a few times when reminiscence led him to undesirable roads of nostalgia. He’d met Cosette the third time he visited the place, chestnut hair, sharp nose and hazel eyes, a beauty. He called her Cosy. It was easier to pronounce anyway. They’d hooked up not long after that, gone out on a few dates and soon entwined fingers and kissed under the rain. It’d been quite serious and Sanji had liked her. She tolerated the things he’d wished he could erase with magic.

After a delivery to the new pack’s place at five in the evening, a tall and square-faced, hazel-eyed and brown-haired young member of the pack who introduced himself as Bill Silver, talked to Sanji about the real reason behind their unscheduled stay.

Apparently, one of the rare creatures the pack encompassed was the were-fox. Carina had joined their pack after fleeing rogue hunters who had wanted her for her rare coat. Hunter and Naomi had been on an expedition of ‘corralling’ the rarest of creatures in order to bring them back to their original pack, and have them pact with everyone else for protection –which sounded a lot like a bad episode of Eldritch Horror. Carina had soon been trailed down by those hunters even with a pack’s help and eventually had fled them too. Now, Bill, the twins and Ace (the whiskey-eyed, sharp-nosed and baby-faced Sphinx –rare, figures) –Bill himself flaunted about his winged chimera counterparts– they had to get to her before the hunters did. Hunter and Naomi were two sides of the same coin. They acted as the emissaries of their pack back in Rado. Bill, orphaned and on the run too, had had no qualms with going to Rado with the twins. He’d left his family back in North Rica and traveled west, and amidst his self-discovery journey, he’d been besmirched by people’s lack of understanding until the twins came his way. He’d been the first of the other two to be corralled by the twins. And then the pathway had led them to a Sphinx driving itself to destruction because the loneliness had been too overwhelming. Ace had been by himself too when they found him, and he had willingly joined their pack after taking on Bill in his Sphinx form and failing to defeat the man. Carina had been the last to join their pack. Her story wasn’t something they hadn’t heard before, but unlike them who left their families and homes willingly, she had been driven to leave by ‘collectors’ who had a license to kill, skin and torture beings like them. The other reason why Bill had wanted to help her was because he’d fallen in love with her smile.

Being a pack, you become bound to allowing people other than yourself to handle you. With the three of them united (the twins didn’t count because they were emissaries for another pack), Bill, Ace and Carina had learnt to rely on each other. Ace had continued to be the nonchalant out-of-control-for-fun jerk that he’d had always been, and to be honest, to our day, nobody knows whether his lack of interest in people had been because he was nonlibidoist, asexual or celibate. Although the three could define whatever visceral monologues he’d had with himself about life and humans in general, which, in return, had given Bill and Carina a chance to be free for each other. There had been no competition to speak of and all Hunter had cared about had been his twin sister’s well-being. Actually, the latter had showed odd interest in Ace, of all people.

They’d been in the trail of a rare female Dhampir an indigenous psychic of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Lahoma had guided them to –a young woman named Wanda Littlefeather– when the rogue hunters had caught up to them and the pack had had no choice but to split up –they were young, basically cubs with no combat training or any teachings of power control– Best technique had been to retreat.

Bill and Carina had ended up separating before the run had stopped, the pack had met again in the agreed on spot but Carina had been gone even before that.

And since then, they’d been tracking down every whiff of info to get her back, but to no avail.

The 'Vampire' thing had been just an excuse to get territory owners to grant them a free pass. Hunter had had no interest in revealing Carina’s identity to people who had no business with his pack. But, as Bill had stated, he’d been growing rather tired of chasing after a ghost. He’d become more impatient and all he’d wanted to do was see Carina again. Which was why he told Sanji all that, and also, according to his cryptic talk, because Sanji smelled really powerful.

Sanji had an obligation to tell Katakuri what Bill had told him. After all, he’d pledged his allegiance to the Alpha and thus he was condemned to report back to him whether he wanted to or not. Katakuri trusted Sanji. There was no going behind this fact, no ignoring it. When Sanji told him he’d wanted to help that pack, he didn’t refuse. When Sanji told him he wanted to use his blood to locate the girl, Katakuri didn’t refuse. The Alpha wanted the new pack out of his territory, and he also wanted the pack to leave with good impressions of his own pack. And Sanji understood that. Wanting to impress and intimidate intruders, he understood the significance of that.

With Charlotte’s impossibly, usually perfect incantations, and Sanji’s blood, locating Carina was easy, almost too easy. The young woman had been trudging through the vast woods surrounding Kansan outside Katakuri’s territory when she arrived a couple of weeks before, keeping out of way and doing her best to not give her whereabouts away. But the magic Sanji _is_ still carrying in his veins is something of yet another matter. Turned out, in her haste to get away from the hunters, she’d managed to step into the lair of a deity who hadn’t been too happy about the sudden visit. The deity cursed Carina. Afraid she’d cause her pack unwished for troubles, Carina left.

The curse the deity had left Carina with was a strange one.

Bill, respectable man that he was, had never laid his hands on Carina. He’d told Sanji that he’d wanted to ask Carina to marry him, and that that had been just the way he’d been raised. Carina, apparently, had been the same. Aside from mere PDA, she’d wanted nothing more until a ring was on her finger.

So it didn’t add up when Carina came clean about her pregnancy.

Bill, although still focused, anger blinded him. He thought she’d gone ahead and slept with someone else, until she explained what had really gone down that day.

With Katakuri and Hunter’s permission, Sanji summoned the Deity of Fertility to them.

 

 

 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN.1: If you're subscribed to Disguised Evil, you might have received a notification that it had been updated. It was supposed to be chapter 20; I did not delete it. I copy-pasted it to chapter 19. 
> 
> AN.2: I'd like for you to put in mind that the tags contain 'Plot Twist', it is also about the baby. Let's just say that I don't think Zoro and Sanji are ready to raise one yet, but that doesn't mean there won't be any future pregnancies. You'll know what I mean in a few chapters from now.
> 
>  
> 
> Until then, I hope you enjoy :)

 

 

**Star Guest:**

**Whitey Bay as the Deity's vessel**

 

 

 

 

 

According to Hunter, deities –self-important half-Gods– weren’t supposed to be summoned but invited. It went to show the respect their kin relished –but didn’t deserve. However, and according to the same source, it’d be too late to undo the curse if the deity chose to ignore their invitation, because sometimes they do, and Sanji didn’t want to bet. With Charlotte’s help, Sanji summoned the deity, and didn’t care if the latter lost her temper and decided to toss things at them, nor did he care if she decided to create a storm or strike them all dead with lightning. He had to get her to undo whatever she’d done to Carina.

The deity was summoned and restrained by magical shackles. Scrutinizing at her, Sanji wondered who the poor girl who ended up being that deity’s meat-suit was; she looked young.

“Whitey Bay” The deity said, “Someone proud enough to serve a holly being such as myself when others have been degrading our existence".

“And you wonder why.” Sanji scoffed.

“Careful there” Hunter warned him, “You don’t want her provoked.”

“Well, it seems you have me shackled also.” The Deity mused, “Too late for playing careful, now, don’t you think?” Her smile held a hint of a deprecating smirk. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Undo the curse you placed on Carina,” Sanji demanded, “and you might walk out free tonight.”

Bill held a devastated Carina in his bulky arms.

The deity tilted her head at Sanji’s brazen bravado, “What an insolent little thing you are!” She exclaimed, “You think you can summon me to you, stroll up here barking orders and do whatever you please with me?” she huffed, “I am a Goddess!”

“Technically half a god,” Sanji corrected with an air of nonchalance, “I did my homework.”

She looked away from him.

“All I’m asking is for you to undo your Mojo,” Sanji persuaded.

The deity flared her nose, “do you smell that?”

Sanji scanned his surroundings for a moment, “smell what?”

“Power” –she smirked again at him, small, dark eyes boring into his– “yours.”

Sanji’s body quivered, a swift onceover at the two packs told him they were as surprised as he was. He looked at the deity again. “So if you know that, you also know what I’m capable of.”

“No argument there.” She acquiesced.

Then Katakuri interrupted, holding Sanji by the wrist and moving them away from earshot so they’d discuss their options.

“Maybe we’re being too hasty here, Sanji.” he started, cared to elaborate only when Sanji raised a brow at his remark, “If she’s really a fertility deity then maybe we can extort more of her. You know, my Connie, she can’t conceive. We tried, man. Nothing, absolutely nothing worked so far.” He said as he seized a fervent glance at the deity and then looked back at Sanji, “Maybe this deity’s here for a reason. Maybe she can help heal Conis’ condition?”

“You’re gonna place Conis’ life in her hands?” Sanji exclaimed.

“No, not her life.” Katakuri denied, “I just want her to give Conis what she wants, what I want. Sanji, my wife is a great woman, she deserves better, and this deity can give her that. I’m more than willing to make a few changes in the plan.”

Sanji feared the consequences, but Katakuri had been right, Conis deserved to be happy.

“Change of plans,” Katakuri told the Deity, “we want you to free Carina from the curse and heal my wife.”

“Now,” the deity shot them a haughty smirk, “why would I do that?”

Ace and Naomi showed her the sharpened sticks they’d made; obviously, the rumor that you’d kill a semi-god with a stab wound to the chest had been true because the deity’s smirk immediately fell after taking one look at the objects in their hands.

“Kill me and you won’t be granted the cure.” She reminded.

Katakuri demurred at that, even Hunter dipped his chin in surrender. Bill held Carina closer to him; it was easier to kill than serve. And the deity wasn’t a being to be served willingly, she was a tyrant.

“Fine then,” Sanji breathed out, and the rest looked at him with reproach. “You know what’s worse than death for your kind?”

She licked her dry lips.

“I can snuff the life out of you in an instant, but I can also suck your powers away, leave you empty like a shell.” He threatened, “Magic or not, I do more than you think I can. All I want from you is to undo what you did, and give Conis the ability to carry.”

The deity eventually succumbed to the threat, “Your damsel wasn’t impregnated.” This she told Bill before looking at Sanji again. “I can’t impregnate if no seed has been planted. I’ve given her an afterbirth placenta, but it is empty.”

Carina and Bill looked at each other in confusion.

“She is a virgin, can’t be impregnated.” The deity deadpanned.

“That’s great,” Katakuri stuttered a chuckle, “Now, my wife, do something for her.”

“I’m not running a charity here, boy.” The deity claimed, “You give me something in return now, reck to, lot.”

“What do you want?” Sanji demanded.

“I want the shackles off.” She shrugged.

“Not a chance.” Sanji scoffed.

“Then you can forget about your beloved wife,” this she told Katakuri, “You can forget about having a child. It’s a pleasant enough thought, wouldn’t you say?”

Katakuri lowered his head in a thoughtful silence, and Sanji came up to him.

“You can’t be seriously considering her offer?”

“What else am I supposed to do?” Katakuri gritted out, “I’m running out of options here.”

“Yeah, but what if she’s plotting something?” Sanji winced at the possibilities lying there.

“That’s a bold presumption.” The deity mused.

“Shut up.” Katakuri and Sanji told her in unison. Katakuri then looked back at Sanji. “I don’t care anymore.” He sighed. “Just do what she says.”

Reluctantly, Sanji headed the alpha’s order and removed the only thing keeping the deity from them and getting blown to hell. Once the shackles vanished into thin air, the deity made her move. She repelled everyone away with a single flick of her index which shocked them with some sort of energy wave like a gamma explosion, and Sanji stumbled towards the direction of Charlotte who was taking a nap after landing face first on the dirt. The deity caught up to him in time to stop him from rousing her back to consciousness.

The rest of Hunter’s pack started to turn, Bill had already been made enraged by having the love of his life go through something like that so that came out in the spurts of callous violence. His form a rare chimera, roaring; it was a feast to the eyes. Ace looked up to Bill so when that happened, he allowed his inner anger to float up to the surface. The Sphinx soon joined the chimera in fighting the deity who had proved to be quite the handful. The deity shrieked something about the power being hers before dodging the two creatures’ whipped strikes to attack Sanji, snake fangs elongating to bite his neck. Katakuri soon threw himself at the deity again, and the two engaged in a hand-to-hand. It certainly looked like the deity decided to humor them a little, like a prey playing with its food before eating it, with her main dish being Sanji’s blood. The latter seized her distraction to wake Charlotte up, and the two, with the twins’ help –because Carina transformed too and joined her boyfriend in the fight– teamed up to conjure some god damn spell Charlotte believed it’d erase the deity from existence. Except, they didn’t get to finish it when the deity struck Sanji with the lightening he had forecasted way before, but it wasn’t electrifying, it was numbing.

“And that’s for treating me like a commoner,” she told him, now flying up from their reach, “Well,” she hummed, “glad to have been of service.”

With that, she was gone.

 

Sanji vaguely remembers something about Hunter’s pack conceding Katakuri’s offer to stay in town one more day before setting off after the half-vamp. He also remembers Katakuri and Charlotte taking him back home in a pickup because he couldn’t move. Conis and Vivi had been waiting for their arrival, and Katakuri couldn’t look his wife in the eyes.

The next day, they threw a little goodbye party to the unusual pack. They laughed and danced as though they’d been pack since the dawn of time, the normalcy that you can feel only with a childhood friend, a member of family or a lover. And, god, it reminded Sanji of all of that. He excused himself from the party to call Robin, stood at the balcony in the chilly breeze with a can of beer in a hand. It was a lot like back with Zoro. The overflowing emotions like a tear in time and space, taking Sanji back to the nights he’d spent with Zoro, just sitting at the porch of that house, knocking knees and elbows together, taking long drawn-out swigs of the wine which Zoro always bitched about whenever he got the chance to, the two of them sky-gazing in a comfortable silence…

Robin had been great and understanding on the phone when Sanji told her everything and made her promise to keep his location a secret.

Katakuri walked out to join him in the balcony. They leaned on the balustrade and watched the empty streets, bumped cans in a silent toast for their small victory. Even if Conis didn’t get healed, Carina, at least, had been assured to be normal.

“Was that Cosette?”

A laugh came from the cramped house. Charlotte, true to her promise, had concocted another potion to create the Inuit spell for the houseguests so they’d understand Vivi. But from the commotion, Sanji knew it must have been one of the two, she either fucked up big time, or succeeded but it was still a fuck-up.

“No,” Sanji shook his head, took a reckless sip from his can and sighed, “someone from back home.”

“Your Alpha?” Katakuri picked a guess.

Sanji looked at Katakuri with fuming eyes, “He is not my Alpha,” he enunciated, “how many times do I have to say it?”

Katakuri lifted conciliating hands, can of beer going up too, “Alright,” he crooned, a hand soon landing between Sanji’s shoulder blades in a faint pat. “Which reminds me,” he started, now shifting closer to Sanji until the latter felt warmth fanning on his side. “I haven’t been able to scent-mark you at all lately. You wouldn’t mind if I got a tiny bit closer, would you?”

Sanji considered the thought for a moment before he shrugged altogether, now looking towards the sky.

To his surprise, Katakuri went beyond the usual skin-ship he usually offered.

Sanji felt the taller man lean into the side of his neck, the phantom of a touch of lips turning to small pecks. Sanji’s eyes closed at the sensation that roused shudders all across his body. He felt Katakuri invade his space entirely to swivel him so that Sanji’s back was against the balustrade instead, and as Katakuri lipped at his neck, Sanji couldn’t help the little moans that came out of him, coupled with Zoro’s name uttered every time Katakuri grinded his lower body on his.

Katakuri didn’t stop, he’d already winded his arms around Sanji’s middle and guided a hand to the golden locks, just stroking the scalp and inciting more moans from Sanji.

“Uri, stop.” Sanji pleaded in a husky whisper.

Katakuri didn’t. “You’re still reeking of him.” He grunted instead, “Whatever I do, his scent wouldn’t go away.”

A part of Sanji didn’t want Zoro’s scent to leave him. It had been the only thing left to him from that man, beside the scars, and the memories. God, Sanji wanted the memories away.

Katakuri growled impatiently under Sanji’s earlobe, “Whatever I do is not enough,” he whined, “I want to erase him from you. You belong with me now.”

Sanji, although deep within hated the idea, getting reminded of the reason he’d left town put the pieces together: the image of Zoro embracing his fiancée reminded him. So he didn’t tell Katakuri off nor did he warn him about minding what he’d said. And soon, Katakuri’s nose was touching his. Sanji opened his eyes and Katakuri’s looked dark, vibrant, just like Zoro’s. Sanji knew that that had been the alpha’s way of venting his anger on something, but not that he cared. He himself was finding the replacement worthwhile because, damn, he’d missed Zoro so fucking much he thought he was going out of his mind.

They kissed.

There were no forewarnings, and no permissions asked beforehand, they were just lips on Sanji’s.

Katakuri pressed his lips on Sanji’s, closing his eyes and hiding the amber and the crimson within his pupils, and Sanji tried to convince himself that the person next to him was his mate who had tossed him away, back to make things right, so he allowed the kiss to deepen. He allowed it to deepen when he opened his mouth and invited Katakuri in. He allowed them both to make that mistake when Sanji wrapped his arms around Katakuri’s shoulders, and let himself be driven by his sentiments and desires.

They stopped when Sanji suddenly wrenched himself from Katakuri’s arms, his own breath jagged.

 

Katakuri and Sanji never talked about that night again.

 

He had been drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, peeking back from time to time at Vivi who hogged the passenger seat when, suddenly, stabbing pain spread across his abdomen. He’d wanted to ignore it but soon swerved the car over the lane when the pain became unbearable he had to spill the contents of his stomach out.

Katakuri, perceptive ass that he was, picked up on Sanji’s predicament as soon as the man walked into his storage room. Aside from the deliveries, Sanji had especially wanted Katakuri to scent-mark him within the privacy of the four walls; that was his way of saying ‘I want some comfort from my alpha’ because things hadn’t been great in his life and his emotions had been all over the place. Although he and Katakuri made that mistake when they kissed, it didn’t stop the alpha from providing the comfort his pack member needed, even if they had to hug and press up against each other in an empty and locked room.

The alpha invited Sanji over to dinner that night thinking the man hadn’t been eating healthy even if Cosette took care of his menu, but Sanji reclined, until the morning Katakuri dropped the bomb that Sanji’s nausea had been the telltale of his pregnancy because he could already feel the changes in Sanji’s abdomen, and after their little fiasco with the Fertility Deity, it all started to make sense.

Cosette, although patient and kind-hearted, couldn’t handle his sudden impotence, and the fact that he was pregnant only helped making things worse –not that he told her. He was keen to part ways with her with his dignity still intact. He, soon, with Charlotte accompanying him, headed towards the answers outside Kansan, reaching places he never thought one day he could and learning things they never knew existed, picking up experience and maturing together.

 

**Present time.**

 “So what you’re saying is –” Zoro concludes (He’s turned the lamp at his side on and was sitting with his back to the headboard now.) “You two kissed.”

Sanji narrows his eyes, lips parting like a fish, “I’m practically coming clean about all my flings and your first concern is a kiss?”

Zoro glowers at him, that kind of glare that forces answers without having to try to physically pry them out of anyone.

Sanji lowers his head. He is also sitting with his back to the headboard, hands palmed out on his belly. “I told you,” he insists, “It was barely a peck.”

“No,” Zoro lifts a hand to scrub his own face, “No, Sanji, it wasn’t.” he denies, “or else you wouldn’t have brought it up.”

Sanji’s tongue snakes under the roof of his mouth, but he remains silent. Ha, he’d come up with a hundred retorts to that, but he chooses not to. Let Zoro make this his fault, see if it helps.

Zoro twirls his lips, makes a noise in his throat to show false impressiveness, “Then” he drawls with a visible, unsettling frown, “did you two sleep together?”

Sanji’s head whips, his cat-like eyes wide and watery. “What,” he exclaims, “No, of course not. Jesus Christ, Zoro!”

Zoro holds eye-contact with Sanji for a second before looking away and shrugging, “Just saying, I mean” he starts, “You ran risks by kissing a married man, who says you two didn’t go for something else.”

“Okay, first of all, asshole” –Sanji lifts his index to count– “it was a meaningless peck, you hear that, didn’t mean a thing, unless your definition of meaningless goes beyond human’s perception.” He says, “And two” –he lifts his middle finger– “Katakuri is my friend, I’d never cross that line.”

Snap, Zoro can feel the wolf prowling under his skin for release. “The line, huh” he scoffs, “You swerved to it the moment you two kissed, Sanji. He’s a married man for God’s sake.”

“I told you it was barely a peck!” Sanji retaliates.

“Actually,” Zoro says with this fucking expression on his face as though he’s finally caught on to Sanji’s life decisions. “It all makes sense now” he marvels, “He didn’t want to talk to you the other day.”

“No, no. That’s different.” Sanji waves it off, “He’s pissed I changed my mind about giving them Ren, which goes to prove how much he loves his wife, which, in return, takes me back to the point I’ve been trying to make: it was just a peck and it had no meaning.”

Zoro heaves out a deep sigh, “Your casualness is in equal parts annoying and shocking, J, you can at least cut the crap.” He says, “It’s not like I can’t see the bigger picture here, you left without knowing what happened, thinking I’d dumped you. Katakuri was there and you liked the codependency, and, just so you know, I’m taking the liberty here to make this sound less like you cheated on me. I can’t believe you, Sanji, bringing this up in bed.” He rants on, “Of all the things you’d have told me, could have shared with me, you pick the one that you know damn well would mess me up–” he cuts himself off when he shakes his head, mumbling something about his wolf wanting to come out.

Sanji faces his mate with his body and surreptitiously rests a folded leg on Zoro’s lap. “Calm down.” He demands, “He might have helped dull the pain a little bit but he is not the one I’m in love with.” He says, “I’m here now, with you just like I’ve always wanted, and nothing is going to take me away from you again, you get that?”

Zoro is still scrunching his face, a little angry, a little delighted. Only he can pull it off.

Sanji brings a hand to Zoro’s cheek, framing it. “I loved you too much back then, and I love you even more now” he says, “and I” –he lifts Zoro’s chin to make eye-contact– “will always, always love you, perhaps even more than I already do because that’s just the person you are, loveable.”

 “Loveable?” he cringes, pulling Sanji into a hug, “Is that the best you can come up with?”

Sanji rests his chin on Zoro’s shoulder and shrugs his own, “You needed the cheering up, and you needed it fast.” He says, “Now I may not be an innovative kind of guy but at least I saved your ass from going amok on me. You should be thanking me, Mr. Werewolf.”

Zoro rolls his eyes, a fond smile tugging at his lips, “Thank you for saving your own bacon.”

“Think you can reciprocate the favor now?” Sanji whispers, planting a soft kiss to Zoro’s collarbone, nibbles at its trace until Zoro sighs soundly, “Let’s do it, Zoro.”

“As much as I’m honored to be receiving such an offer,” Zoro says through a grin, “I’m afraid I have no choice but to recline.” 

Which Sanji considered patently unfair, he perks up with a pout, “why though?”

“I’m waking up at daybreak,” Zoro reasons, unintentionally looking for a clock, “some woman from a foreign factoring company is coming for business, and I don’t want to show up late in our first meeting.”

Sanji grins cheekily, “a woman, doing business, huh.” He wiggles his eyebrows, “someone’s trying so hard to make me jealous.”

“Are you?” Zoro demands, eyes flat on Sanji’s.

Sanji, for a second, he furrows his brows, but soon shakes his head and smiles, “I’m always jealous.” He says, “You’re like a walking debonair god straight out of a wet dream, it’s a real struggle every day” –he forestalls Zoro’s remark– “I know it sounds like I’m making this into a joke but I’m not, at least not this time. I mean I know my jokes, hey, I aim to please, but I’m not lying, and if I didn’t trust you enough, I’d have put you on a leash or gotten my name tattooed on your forehead to keep the leeches away.”

Zoro looks at his mate with a pair of wide, astounded eyes.

“Yeah,” Sanji taps at Zoro’s dip, biting on his bottom lip suggestively, “bet you didn’t see that one coming.”

Zoro tentatively shakes his head.

“Go on,” Sanji moves his other hand around but soon returns it to his belly, “gloat about it, do it while I’m being nice.”

Zoro snorts on a small smirk. He shakes his head again as though having a real conversation with Sanji is like the one thing he’ll always aspire for but can never have. He leans back on the pillows, pulling Sanji down with him, who, in return, strains at the effort a little because his baby is weighing a little more now that he has bones. He deliberately reclines in a position that has most of his belly resting on Zoro’s waist.

“I can’t believe we’re not gonna try it tonight.” Sanji murmurs in complaint. He lifts his leg and stretches it out on Zoro’s lap, his cheek slowly landing on the marble chest.

“Not making exceptions,” Zoro mumbles, his voice vibrates inside Sanji’s head, “not even for you.”

Jeez, and here Sanji thought Zoro was finally developing a heart. Sanji rubs his belly, fixates Zoro’s chest with another kiss, “stingy.” He comments, “You didn’t even return the compliment.”

“You just called me stingy.” Zoro’s body reverberates with another sleepy laugh that sounds so sexy.

“That’s because you are.” Sanji drones, moving his hand to Zoro’s other dip, loving the feeling of taut, firm muscles under his fingertips. “I was genuinely expecting something from your werewolf poetry book along the line of ‘oh, Sanji, the love of my life. You’re so handsome not even Gary Grant can stand a chance against your ethereal beauty’. You’re so unromantic it makes me weep.”

Zoro shams a loud snore.

Sanji’s head perks up, “He’s fallen asleep, are you serious?” he exclaimed, now resting his head back on that firm chest, “What about that therapeutic talk crap?”

Zoro brings his hand to Sanji’s back, lazily brushing the fingers over the fabric of his shirt, and Sanji closes his eyes very slowly.

 

The low rumble and the sudden flash awaken Zoro from a restful sleep. He cracks his eyes open to check on Sanji, finding the man sprawled on his own side of the bed, a hand dangling out the bed and a leg has kicked the cover off and is now lying askew. Zoro blows a small and affectionate chuckle before he flings the cover on Sanji again, expecting his mate to kick it off again but still bothering with that anyway. When he gets it past his arm, his fingers brush against Sanji’s neck and darkened veins race up his hand. He frowns. He finds no other option but to rouse his mate from his sleep.

“Sanji, hey” he whispers, “does it hurt somewhere.”

Sanji is incoherent at first but soon he mumbles a sleepy ‘headache’ before falling back to sleep. Zoro snatches his phone from its stand on the bedside table and dials up Keimi and Luffy, orders them to patrol the area and stand guard for any threats. After sinking back into his pillow, he eyes Sanji with a little crease on his forehead –Sanji is amazing, that danger detector of his is still posing questions about the supernatural.

Actually, Zoro is playing a little game that only Kuina knows about. He did talk to a –ahem, a shrink, about their sex life, but it’s not like Zoro is a prodigy at talking feelings himself. Sanji’s become way, way better than any of them at expressing his own thoughts and feelings and all that touchy-feely crap. So ‘communication is key’ was kind of unfulfilling when it came to the things Zoro wanted of Sanji and had failed to own the true grit enough to face him about. Fact is, he was fucking done.

He is vouching for any form of penetrative sexual act right now, in any position. He just wants to be inside Sanji and he doesn’t mean it figuratively.

So Kuina, self-appointed Qetesh of every sexual drawback, came up with a plan –and he’s hoping it’s no way payback for all those times he called her up on her worthless love advices, because, come on, she’s a century year old but she’s still single. Anyway, the plan, if Sanji is scared of sex, then, according to Zoro’s sister, better not give it to him. Ever heard of Sexual Teasing, little brother? So he took her up on it. It’s not like he had options stocked up in his study to pick from anyway, and if Zoro is a little honest here, it hasn’t even been long since he executed the plan and it was already paying off so well. Sanji’s become clingier, more aroused, not to say Zoro isn’t but he’s usually biting down his nails to keep from pinning Sanji down. Just a little now and Sanji will forget about himself and come undone to his mate, and Zoro will give his wolf a chance to savor up the moment, and then he’ll ravish his mate, _sexually_ , sexually.

But then the smallest of flutters happens, Ren’s hand stretches inside Sanji’s belly, framing the skin with his tiny finger. Zoro is watching with absolute rapt –and quickly places his hand on his baby’s, breathing out a laugh that falls between a stutter and a chuckle, the crusading unease he’s been having falters to nothing but a pulse. His wolf is calm.

 

Sanji wakes up to the same low rumble bringing clouds loaded with rain, he strokes his belly and cranes his neck to check on his mate, finding Zoro facing the other side. Sanji worms closer to the broad back and clings to it, face rubbing against the warm fabric.

 

********

 

A loud chirp takes Sanji out of his dreams and to a rainy morning. He doesn’t find Zoro, but he finds something scribbled on a sticky note pad on the nightstand beside his phone which has just chirped. Sanji sits up and reads what’s written.

[Now that you’re back to me, I feel complete again.]

His plump lips part open into a silly grin, his hand bringing a pillow to his chest. Next time his phone chirps, he quickly lifts it to read the text message.

[Good morning to the most important person in my life.]

Sanji hugs the pillow tighter, vibrates with a muffled squeal and quickly gets it together when he remembers he isn’t a teenage girl obsessing over the Gullens. But then the phone chirps again when another text is received.

[By the way,] it says [a couple of carpenters are heading your way, going to get the nursery done by today. If it gets too noisy, call Nami, she’s on watch duty today.]

Sanji isn’t sure if the note and the romantic texts were just to smooth his way with Sanji about those carpenters, but what he wants to nag Zoro for right now is assigning Nami to something like watch duty when she has school, and they all know how the girl loves her straight A’s. He soon remembers it’s the start of the weekend. In fact, since they finished their exams, maybe he should call them over and have them spend the evening with Kuina, Law and Robin. They deserve a break after all the predicaments that have fallen upon them lately.

 

Half an hour later, the drilling and the banging reverberates across the entire mansion as the nursery gets done. Sanji picks his and Vivi’s breakfast (because it was decided that she would spend the rest of the weekend at their place instead of Law’s) and moves on to the living-room. He sprawls on one of the sofas and relaxes with a glass of orange juice in his hand, with Vivi yawning at the foot of the sofa. When the hammering becomes too much, Sanji collects his cardigan sweater, puts on Zoro’s outdoor wool slippers and makes for the door, Vivi in tow again. What he doesn’t expect is finding Nami just outside, arms crossed over chest and legs taut, a knit shawl on her upper body. Sanji comes to a halt, beholding her patronizing posture.

“Where do you think you’re going?” She demands, a brow lifting up very slowly, demeaning.

Sanji rolls his eyes at her and steps out of the door, closing it behind him after Vivi sauntered out, “for a walk?”

“No.” She hisses, now springing up to his direction. “You’re not allowed to leave just yet.”

“Excuse me?” he exclaims, “says who?”

“Says the Alpha” She cocks her head daringly at him.

“Oh my God,” he says in monotone, “I’m so scared right now, the wolf is gonna eat me if he finds out I took my dog out for a walk,” He continuous on a monotonous whine, his eyes glaring at hers. 

Vivi has the distinct feeling not to cut in with some crude ‘I’m technically a ghost so I don’t need walks’ but Sanji’s foul mood keeps that at bay for her.

“Are you done?” Nami asks, her own eyes narrowing at him.

He shakes his head sadly and huffs a sigh, “Whatever,” he tells her, “you’re not putting me on lockdown. If I want to take a walk, that’s exactly what I’m going to do. If you and your Alpha have a problem with that, howl at the moon, or chase your tails, I don’t care.” When he tries to shoot past her, she grips his elbow.

“Not so fast,” she says, her droopy eyes sending him something like a warning. That’s not scary by the way, and if she thinks she can send him to his demise then she’s not exactly thinking this through. “I don’t care if you care or not, you usually don’t so I think I’ve got the hang of that by now, but I had orders, and I’m not about to go against them.”

Sanji clacks his teeth together in frustration, “Nami,” he starts, “they’ve been drilling holes into the walls for the entire morning.” He sends his thumb towards the direction of the front door. “I don’t have my laptop on me and I’ve been cooped up inside for a long, long, LONG time now!” he barks the last words despite the reiteration, “now if you’ll excuse me, I’d like to stretch my legs and get some fresh air. So unless a winged Behemoth is skulking in the corner to dine on my bones, I’d like you to move out of my way, if you please.”

Nami places her other hand on her chest, “my heart bleeds for you.” She feigns sorry, “But orders are orders, and I’m pretty sure, at this point, we all should stick to them.”

Sanji narrows his eyes at her; he really is starting to hate the nerves of her. “You hear me?” he grouches, “hate!”

She shrugs and turns her dead eyes on the vast clearing, “besides,” she adds, letting go of his elbow, “a storm is coming.”

“Did you develop your own personal weather forecast now?” he scoffs, heading to the bench and plopping down on it. Vivi does the same but on the plank. “Let me guess, if your nipples perk up it’s a storm, but if you get an itch in your ass it will hot up?”

“I watched the news like everyone else.” She grouses, “and why are you in such a grumpy mood today anyway,” she asks, leaning back on the railing to face him, “bad period cramps?”

“No more funny jokes Nami,” Sanji counters, “if I laugh any more my mouth might tear open.”

Vivi ignores them at this point for a nap; if she isn’t going to be taken out for a walk, she might as well catch up on the sleep Law and Robin kept snatching from her every night they decided to act sexually rampant.

“I’m serious though,” Nami says, overlooks his mutter of ‘so am I’, “if someone should get pissed it’s me.”

“Oh, I don’t think it’s a matter of choice here, honey.” He says on a dark laugh, “Your fractiousness can’t be switched off, looks gorgeous on you by the way.”

“But you’re breaking my record.” She flings a hand around, “is it your unstable hormones?”

He glares at her, “very funny.”

“Is it?” she demands again. “Look, it’s going to be just you and me until two in the afternoon, so we’d better start communicating.”

“You, communicating?” Sanji scoffs, and what’s up with the werewolves wanting to communicate lately, are they finally coming out of their hibernation? “Nah, I think I’m fine talking to myself in a corner.”

“You’re pissed I got in Keimi’s way?” she guesses, a smirk taunting her lips.

“I’m pissed I can’t even get fifteen feet away by myself to take a breather,” he bites out, “you getting in Keimi’s way is the last of my worries right now, no offense.” And she is no help being so obstinate.

“None taken.” She shrugs and curls her lips, “did she tell you that her boyfriend out flat joked about us to our homeroom teacher?”

Sanji resigns with a sigh, threads a hand through his growing hair. He swears, this is like some rom-com family drama straight from the 90’s, only, this version has werewolves and possessed dogs, and magical beings. Holy shit, this is his life.

“Maybe we don’t see eye-to-eye,” she confesses, “but you know that what I did was the right thing.”

“Yeah,” he snorts, “threaten her boyfriend to the point he can’t pick up her calls again.” He reminds, “Now that’s what I call strategy.”

“What do you know?” she suddenly props off the handrail, shawl sliding down her arm. She is standing before him, beautiful and strong like a monolith. “You ran off on us for an entire year, okay? And when Zoro went bonkers for you, I’m the one who had to be there to make sure the pack doesn’t lose hope that our Alpha might return to us one day.” She huffs, her big eyes widening and veins popping along her tan-skinned temples with anger. “Kuina tried her best to help, but she couldn’t be here always, and she had crap of her own to work through after losing her brother to his wolf.” She lowers her head, “she took it hard, we all did, but I was… catatonic.”

Suddenly, warm arms are wrapping around her, bringing her closer to a soft bump and chest. At first, Nami is still and silent, but when Sanji squeezes his hold on her, she allows the gesture and even hugs Sanji back, resting her forehead on his shoulder.

Vivi’s head props up.

The rain, it’s falling…

 

Around one and a half in the afternoon, Zoro marches into the house, finding Nami and Vivi slumped on one of the settees inside the living-room and munching on something Sanji must have made to bribe her with. He flares his nose, sniffing in the little remnants of despair filling up the air, and he corrects himself, the sandwich must have been to cheer her up. He catches a whiff of the happiness wafting upstairs, a smile tugging at his lips. He bundles up those stairs in less than four steps, driven by the sole thought that he wants to see Sanji after a long morning spent throwing wages. Foreigners are hard to please, especially women.

He finds his mate standing in the middle of the newly-made nursery, eyeing the beige-gray wall color, the drawn tree with fallen white leaves that reach the floor and the round crib curtained by white and see-through drapes. There’s a beige armchair angled just beside the crib with a beige footrest, a few poufs and a gray fluffy wolf-shaped rug on the floor. There are white stuffed animals hooked to the crib and placed on the backrest of the armchair. And by the window, there’s a round glass table, tiny multicolored doors and bibs hung to the wall. A wolf-shaped lamp hanging down the ceiling, a crisscross bookshelf hooked to the wall, mounted by bedtime stories, a wall closet painted in the same color.

“I think they did a good job” Zoro commented, now striding closer to Sanji to wrap an arm around the curve of his back, “Considering.”

Sanji reels his head and smiles, his eyes sparkle with merriment, “Considering?” he echoes, “dude, I’m digging this!” he exclaims, “Although, the gray-beige mix must have been your idea.” He guesses, “I swear, you’re such a yin-yang fanatic.”

Zoro chuckles by his side, “True.” He admits, “Sorry about all the noise they must have caused. I wanted the room ready by this afternoon, so they might have been a little extra noisy.”

“I was gonna complain,” he confesses, “but after seeing this, I think it was worth it. Ren is literally jumping right now. He’s absolutely excited about his new room.”

Zoro places his palm on Sanji’s belly, “have I told you before how much I want to play dad already?”

Sanji faces him and nods on a relenting smile, as though he can make out some meaning in there that Zoro himself can’t. “You have.”

Zoro places his hands on Sanji’s hips, returning the smile.

“But you’re not the one who’s gonna be there to change his diapers, feed him and deal with his annoying cries.” He complained, now sliding his hands up the expanse of Zoro’s chest, settling them on a match of marble shoulders. “All babies cry and shit a lot, and when that happens, you’re going to look for excuses to literally flee the scene.”

Zoro chucks his head back in bewilderment, “You think so little of me, Sanji.” He says, “I must say, I’m shocked.”

Sanji zooms in on him, “Are you going to deny then, offer your help?”

“No?” Zoro grins, “I’m the daddy in this. I go to work to provide for you and my son. I protect you from all the baddies that want to harm you.” He reasons, “Why do I have to shoulder other responsibilities, what’s your use in all this?”

“I’m carrying over eight pounds, smartass.” He says, begrudgingly. “I don’t have superpowers like you do.”

“Um,” Zoro cocks his head, “Yes, you do.”

“Fine,” Sanji grumbles, “but eight pounds is still a lot of weight to carry, and after his birth, I want to go back to work. So you’re not the only one who’s going to be providing for this family, and” he grins back, cheekily, “I have ‘superpowers’ so that means I can protect my son also.”

“Fair enough.” Zoro nods, “But I’m not changing his diapers any time soon.”

“Such bad parenting,” Sanji whines, now planting a kiss to Zoro’s cheek, “what about me then? Are you going to neglect my needs as well?”

Zoro doesn’t deign to answer.

Sanji deciphers the silence into his own understanding. He pecks at Zoro’s neck, purrs into the skin when the other doesn’t react. “I want to hurry up and do it already, Zoro.” He says in a whisper, “don’t tell me your dick is happy with just this, mine isn’t.” saying so, he seizes Zoro’s lips and kisses him hard, the sloppy kiss so desperate, but he doesn’t stop.

“Sanji,” Zoro growls into the kiss, the fucking noises are doing things to him. “I have to go back to work.”

Sanji moans into the kiss, “Work can wait” –he murmurs on Zoro’s lips– “I can’t.” He pushes Zoro towards the armchair, eyes held into his. He sits him down and straddles his lap. It makes it sound so easy but with the watermelon-sized belly, Sanji is proud he didn’t groan with the exertion. He drapes his forearms on Zoro’s shoulders for support and leans down for another kiss. He delights when Zoro kisses him back and his hands fondle the small curve of Sanji’s back, leeching the soreness away and replacing it with relief.

Someone honks the horn of their car outside.

Sanji and Zoro interrupt the kiss and their heads prop up, the contour of their lips red and swollen. When nothing honks again, Sanji knocks his mouth with Zoro’s, and the latter is tempted to dive straight in, do the thing he’s been dying to do but steering himself not to, the thing that, after hearing that Katakuri tried to erase him from Sanji’s memories, grows unattended to. Just the thought of Sanji belonging to a pack that isn’t his makes the redness of his wolf’s want to peer itself from his pupils –he snarls into the kiss– he gropes Sanji’s ass and squeezes it, and Sanji keens in response.

The horn honks again.

“Zoro!” Kuina shouts outside, “We agreed on ten minutes, you’re taking your sweet time!”

When they pull away from the kiss, they are both panting.

“She came with you?” Sanji inquires, not making any effort to get off his mate.

Zoro wets his lips and nods, nibbling at the bottom one, “I wanted to see you but she wasn’t willing to let me come here by myself,” he shrugs, “tagged along to make sure I don’t ‘take my sweet time’ with you.”

Sanji gives a shy chuckle, lips quiver but nothing is uttered.

Zoro helps Sanji up, straightens his clothes and fixes his hair, “I should go.” he breathes out, “You’ve invited everyone over for dinner, right? I’ll make sure to wrap things up and be here early.”

Sanji nods, a little absentmindedly until something pops up, “Wait,” he startles, “Keimi, she’s in a little of a tight spot right now, I was wondering if you’d lend a hand, about her boyfriend.”

Zoro gives his mate an appraising look, the kind of look that usually makes Sanji suddenly insecure about something which he has no idea about. “You’re still tangled up in their teen drama?”

“Whoa” Sanji drones, “rude.” He huffs, “I kind of got dragged into it; it’s not like I can say no to Keimi even if I wanted to. She was really upset about the whole misunderstanding and so was her boyfriend. I couldn’t ignore it and neither should you.” He tells him, an index crudely jabbing at Zoro’s chest.

“In any other day, I’d have bitten your head off for telling me what to do with my pack” he says on an indistinct smirk that Sanji just can’t know for sure what to make of, “remember how getting ordered used to drive me up the wall?” He suddenly gives an appeasing look. “But it’s different now, and, sure, I’ll have a talk with Keimi.”

“And her boyfriend” Sanji provides, a new hope flickering –Zoro can actually be negotiated with, what a great turn of events! 

“Fine,” Zoro breathes out, growing enraged by the lingering conversation about kids’ tantrums. “Tell her to bring him over for the pack night.”

Of all the reactions he’d have shown, Sanji flinches, draws back to a silent response where his arms go up to wrap around his belly, as though a looming threat is angling to get his baby. Zoro watches the change with a crease on his brow, before it falls back together, and he relents with a tiny sigh.

“I’ll call her and get this over with today.” He promises, “I’m sorry you got dragged into it.”

Sanji shakes his head. “It’s fine, Zoro.” He mumbles on a shy smile, “Maybe it’s best if he comes over to the meeting too. He will have a better chance getting acquainted with everyone else. Law and Robin are going to be here as well, your sister too. If he feels like he’s part of this he’ll stop giving Keimi a hard time.”

Zoro’s brows twitch a bit, “Are you sure, I don’t care about some puppy love, it’s enough that he knows about us. I don’t want anyone judging our lifestyle.” He reasons, “if him coming over feels unsettling for you, then just say so, don’t bear with it for Keimi’s sake.”

“I’m not.” Sanji reassures, “I think I’m ready for this.”

Zoro acquiesces, barely though. “Alright” he mutters, “I’ll see you in the evening.” With a chaste goodbye kiss to Sanji cheek and belly, Zoro retreats out of the nursery and makes his way to the car waiting outside.

 

 

“Did it work?” Kuina urges once Zoro is seated on the passenger’s seat.

“Like a charm.” Zoro replies on a smirk.

 

The three male betas are the first to arrive after Nami and Sanji left the kitchen with a feast clattering on the stove, and then, flushed with youthful embarrassment, Robin and Law arrive next, carrying bags containing food from his grandmother which Sanji has appreciated greatly –cooking was easy but with Nami’s help it somehow became not easy, go figure. Keimi and her boyfriend are the last to arrive, and honestly, the delay might even have been purposeful to give Sanji a chance to change his mind about allowing Bart into their territorial housing. It’s not like Sanji’s involvement was by choice, but he loves Keimi dearly and maybe it’s a little low to think of it as returning favors because, thanks to her meddling, Sanji and Zoro had a chance. However, this is just how he’s feeling about this right now. He wants to repay her kindness.

Bart and Keimi stand by the entrance of the living room, tongue-tied and awkward. Sweat slicks their faces and the tiniest brow arch sends their toes and fingers fidgeting. Sanji wants to take them out of their misery already.

“Sorry for the intrusion.” Bart mutters, brown eyes switching from Keimi to the pack.

“What’re you doing at the door?” Sanji teases, “Come on in.”

Bart looks at the direction from where the command came, finding Sanji slowly lifting off the settee to face him, an amiable smile on his lips. Before they arrived here, Keimi spent the entire afternoon drilling a few things into his head, amongst those, something about Sanji’s pregnancy popped up. Although Bart wanted nothing but to bomber the man with questions about it, Keimi’s snarl settled things out since she thinks highly of their Alpha’s mate. But seeing it for himself –a man with a pregnant belly, Bart balls his hands. He finds himself struggling to keep his eyes on Sanji’s and not on his midsection.

Sanji shrinks away a little from the other as Bart scans his figure, but the boy quickly proves different when he looks away from his belly and nods. Keimi tugs him by the arm and shows him inside, closer to Sanji.

“It kind of isn’t in my right to say, but I’m glad you decided to come over,” Sanji says, “I hope you’re a fan of Chili.”

Bart’s features relax and the frown is replaced by a delighted expression, “I’d love to try it.”

“Atta boy,” Usopp drones, unenthusiastically, “Now sit your butt down, and would someone please turn the TV on!”

Keimi flings Sanji a wink in gratitude, and steers her boyfriend inside where they sit on one of the vacant sofas. Sanji watches with fondness how the pack, along with Robin, grumble at Usopp for bossing them around when he isn’t the Alpha, Law only chuckles like a shy kid at a birthday party, and Sanji is suddenly thrown back to the very first times he spent with the pack, desperately trying to get to know them, especially their Alpha. Look at them now; he was even adopted by the Ronoa. Speaking of the Alpha, Sanji realizes that, inside this kindergarten of adults of a meeting, he really wants to see Zoro the most. He takes out his phone and opens the message box.

[Hurry home already] he types, [I miss you.]

 

 


	10. Chapter 10

 

 

“Technically, I’m older than him” Robin says in response to Sanji’s remark about her escapades in bed with Law who is older than her by a good few years. “Besides, we haven’t gone all the way yet.”

“Then what was that about you two not giving Vivi a chance to get some shuteye.” Sanji wonders loudly. He swirls the contents of the saucepan, ushering Robin to bring some pepper so he’d spray it into the pot.

Robin goes to the other side of the kitchen, “Well, to be honest with you here,” she starts, now coming back after fetching the object, “We’re still discovering that area, and what’s beyond is something we decided to leave alone until I’ve graduated” –she hands him the pepper sprayer– “and I’m pretty sure you don’t sit and stew about what Law and I do in his bedroom, what’s going on, Sanji, you’ve been angling to get something from me with that look on your face.”

“There’s no look.” Sanji shakes his head on a grin.

Robin half glares at him, “You’re just going to pretend nothing’s wrong?”

“ _Nothing_ is wrong.” Sanji insists, now putting the lid back on the pot.

“Look,” she starts after a moment, “you may have found a way to forgive and accept Zoro and the pack back in your life, but I’m quite certain you don’t want a repeat of last year –and considering I had to get my hands dirty keeping you on a low profile, neither do I. So if something is going on, and I know it is because I know that face you don when you’re burying your head in the sand, you have to tell me if it’s serious.”

Sanji’s eyes are on hers for a while, gleaming with something, and then he smiles, good-naturedly. “Sure,” he says, “but maybe you’re worrying too much.”

“She is not.” Luffy notes out loudly, “his heart stuttered a little, Robin: he’s lying.”

“Thanks for the spotlight, shit-head.” Sanji berated from the kitchen, now facing Robin, “I’m telling you it’s nothing because it’s very none of any of your concern, and if it was really serious, or life-threatening, which is not, you’d have been the first one I talked to.”

Robin remains silent for a while, fixating Sanji searchingly, but soon shrugs, “Alright then.”

“Welcome home, Zoro!”

“You’re finally home!”

Sanji hears the pack members’ exuberant greetings and then others welcoming Kuina as well, and he and Robin share a knowing look before she turns to the counter, slicing up some tomatoes in a slapdash, careless way. He faces the sink, washing a peeler he used to peel off the potatoes.

“It’s a pleasure to finally meet you, Ronoa Zoro.”

Sanji snickers upon hearing Bart stammering on the words, and he can only imagine the kind of mortification and horror the kid is going through standing before someone like Zoro who looks intimidating with just a brow arch. That’s probably why the guy has very few friends. He isn’t gregarious in nature, and it doesn’t help that Werewolves’ sole trigger is their anger. But now that Sanji is mulling it, what sort of friends does Zoro have? He did hear the man mention luncheon meetings and new-forged business partnerships, but if he recalls right, Zoro never mentioned anything about an actual friend. Well, it’s not like he is any different. Law is his only friend, and when the retired hunter pulled a Houdini on them, Sanji basically spent his days alone.

When he comes out of his deep monologue, he finds that the commotion outside has subsided down to low mumbles. He guesses each one has returned to what they have been doing that Bart was now done introducing himself to the Alpha of the pack. He opens the tap and brings a basket of peeled potatoes under the water to rinse. It takes him a moment to notice it, but Robin has gone completely quite, and before he could get to wonder why, he hears two footsteps, heavy, sauntering, approaching him. He smiles warmly and waits. Soon, strong hands slide on his hips, and warm, firm body slants into his space, pressing against his back. He closes the tap and fists the edge of the sink.

“I missed you, too.”

The breath fans on his neck, hot and wet, and Sanji’s lids close on their own accord, head tilting to the side, signifying he wants those lips on his neck.

“You’re even using your words now, Zoro.” Sanji says in a fluttery whisper because Zoro has brushed his skin with his lips and it’s making him dizzy, “therapy suits you, or is she hot –your shrink I mean. Do I need to worry? Do you have a thing for long legs?”

Zoro rumbles with a low chuckle that sends a vibrating shudder throughout Sanji’s body. “I think the words tend to work with me and not against me when I’m spurred on.” He murmurs, dragging his parted lips to Sanji’s earlobe, “and I do have a thing for legs, actually, yours. You’d look fascinating in shorts, preferably black.”

Sanji almost collapses under the resultant impact of the sensation reverberating through him from a pair of lips only, and he is starting to want those lips wandering farther, downward. Oh, fuck! He wants those lips on certain places and he doesn’t know if he can undo the image of Zoro’s head bobbing up and down his shaft now that he is envisioning it. “Maybe you haven’t noticed but I’m sporting a watermelon-sized belly and a peanut-shaped belly button,” he tries to chuckle but ends up sighing pleasurably when Zoro tongued his ear, “You do not want to see me in shorts. I repeat. You do not.”

Zoro tongues his way back to Sanji’s neck again, this time barely touching, teasing, driving Sanji out of his mind. He does that velvety and smoky chuckle of his, and bares his teeth to craze the skin he’s been licking for a while. “Oh trust me, I do.” He confirms, his hands now meandering to the other’s groin. He is stroking the two sides as though absentmindedly. “You also don’t know but I’ve fancied you in nothing else on but briefs, lying on your side with yours legs spread open, begging me to give it to you.” His hands stroke harder in tandem with each press of his groin against Sanji’s ass, letting him feel the poke of the hard dick that wants nothing but to spurt hot cum inside Sanji.

Sanji presses back against Zoro’s body, head falling on the latter’s shoulder as he lets loose a moan through parted lips, “Fuck…” He sighs. “Zoro, I want it…”

“You want _me_.” Zoro growls impatiently into Sanji’s ear, a hand of his cups Sanji’s bulge and clutches it with evident vigor.

Sanji whimpers and the sound flips a switch in Zoro, and soon, he can feel his canines elongating, just on the cusp of the change and barely holding it back. Sanji brings a hand to Zoro’s hair, clasping the locks until the color drains from his knuckles. “Zoro, wanna feel you…” he pants, his breath ragged, “I need your cock so bad right now.”

Something clutters so loud that it startles the human. Nerves rush from his brain in warning, taking him out of his trance. He finally realizes what’s just transpired, knowing a pack of werewolves with super hearing is lounging just outside these walls, and he reels so fast, hoping to hold Zoro off so he wouldn’t tempt him into something more.

“Wait,” he croaks, “Zoro, wait a second.” He looks over the said man’s shoulder, catching sight of Robin’s back as she quickly darts towards the door to leave them alone.

Zoro isn’t listening.

His fangs and claws have sprung out, and his ears have grown longer and pointier. The redness in his eyes swirls like fading aurora. He lets out a low, throaty rumble, which Sanji doesn’t know how to stop from affecting him, and he is slowly succumbing to the conclusion that Zoro has lost to his inner wolf but said man proves him wrong.

“I’m not waiting–” he grits out through sharp teeth. He’s waited long enough as it is. It’s not fair Katakuri got to see so much of Sanji in the past eleven months and Zoro for a couple of months only. It doesn’t help that now that Sanji is back, the latter’s flashbacks are keeping them from getting more intimate with each other. Zoro’s dick is not happy, of course it’s not happy; how the hell could he be happy with just this. “Not anymore.” Saying so, he parts his lips, ready to pounce on his mate, but the latter grasps Zoro’s vest and pulls him off of him, or tries to because, darn, Zoro is being stupidly persistent.

“Cut it out, Zoro” –said man growls in protest– “The pack is gonna hear us, you brain dead stupid fur ball!”

Zoro manages to nibble at Sanji’s jaw line before the latter manages to pull him off from the collar again, “You’re the one who seduced me first.”

“I did no such a thing!” Sanji bellows, now squirming from Zoro’s clutch. After the little exertion, Sanji looks up at his mate with two visibly flushed cheeks as he cups his own neck, “The pack was right about our self-awareness,” he huffs, but there’s not a hint of malice in his tone, “You and I need to get a grip before we fall into something obscene and corrupt the kids.”

Zoro cocks his head in amusement –his canines haven’t shrunken under his gums yet when Kuina strolls in, looking smug.

“Hate to cock-block,” she starts, and now she faces Zoro, “but didn’t we agree on training the pack tonight?”

Sanji’s eyes switch from hers to Zoro’s who, suddenly, sprits up past him, leaving the man gawking after him with perplexed eyes. Zoro heads to the living room. With only a glare, he has the pack stumbling upright to their feet as though ready to for battle.

“We’re training.” He tells them, briskly, “be ready in two minutes.”

“It’s gonna be a long night.” Luffy mumbles into Frank’s ear.

“Make it one.” Zoro says over his shoulder as he makes his way to the front door.

Frank sighs jadedly before looking at his friend, “He’s the Alpha, idiot,” he grouches in reproach, “You just had to egg him on?” He says, now trudging towards the aforementioned door.

Luffy lowers his head in apology and follows suit.

The rest of the pack trails the two, except for Keimi who lingers behind enough to reassure her boyfriend of her safety and his. Honestly, the guy needs to upgrade a little to a manlier level; being a milksop in the presence of his girlfriend, what’s wrong with this world?

 

“Sorry about that,” Kuina faces Sanji after the pack has left, “It’s been a while since the pack had any reinforced training, and now that we have a chance, I can’t let Zoro blow it just to get laid.”

Sanji winces at her choice of words.

“He’s been a little antsy lately,” she informs on a slight shrug, “all that energy popping in him, he needs to blow off some real steam, which makes me wonder.”

“Yeah?” as in really, “what’s that?”

“Werewolves are such lust-driven creatures with an overactive libido,” she responses, arms crossing over her chest, “The more they are denied relief … well, the _antsier_ they become.” She hums, “which tells me something or two about his sexual decadence.”

Sanji swallows his retort and casts his gaze downward. He is not noticeably discomfited by her tone but the lacking urgency to clear things out for her isn’t too persistent, so he guesses maybe a talk about his and Zoro’s sex life is not something anyone _other_ than Zoro can pry out of him.

 Kuina hums playfully to his silent reaction and turns around, going after the pack.

 

 

"Lucky is our family, if you see her please call this number?" Sanji reads off the sentence on the paper given to him by Bart, switches to look at the said man from his perch on the sofa. "And you are a hundred percent sure this is authentic?"

"It’s all over town," Bart provides, " I know a friend who also knows a friend who knows the owners, they told him Lucky disappeared last year around October."

Sanji and Vivi share a look before Robin perks up, brows knitted together showing her sympathy, "I'm sure it's just a mistake, Sanji," she tells him, "I myself haven't come across any posters of missing dogs."

"I have." Law deadpans, the kind of honesty only a best friend possesses. His small, glinting eyes fall on Sanji's, "Only reason why I never said anything is because I know how much you value her, didn't want to see you get upset."

"If this is true" Sanji starts, facing Vivi, "then we have to get you back to them."

_“No, you can't. I'm not a dog to begin with, Sanji. Besides, you can't take me back like this, I've possessed their dog, remember?”_

"Aha” Sanji says, "But what I'm saying is, maybe I should just change your vessel. It's not like dogs have that kind of lifespan to indulge your possessing feats when you're already a walking ghost."

_“Has Mr. Ronoa ever told you that you have a real way with words, Sanji?”_

"He has, repeatedly." Sanji adds, absentmindedly.

_“I shouldn't be surprised if none of it is sinking in.”_

"Woah," Bart gushes on with two complimentary eyes, "It's amazing. You can actually hear what she says?"

Sanji remembers looking his way and shrugging.

"Sanji," Law utters in his soft voice, "maybe you should start thinking of ways to give them their dog back, un-possessed. Don't you think they've been through enough with a whole year of her gone?”

Sanji spreads his hands out on his belly, rubbing in circular motions and thinking, “I’ve got an idea,” he prompts, “Vivi, how do you feel about floating?”

Vivi tilts her head to the side.

 

The five of them, including Vivi, even if she’s only loitering around and being useless, surround an isolated table in the living-room lined with several herbs and odd-looking boxes, and a hand puppet of a winged, sky-blue giraffe Bart kept on him –don’t even ask.

“So, what’re we doing here?” Law demands.

Sanji glances up at him, “A swap.” He provides, now he resumes working on the herbs and everything. “I need to switch Vivi’s soul to an object. If she possesses some other animal, she’ll have to stick to a time schedule because animals have usually shorter lifespan.” He explains, the things he mixed on the table are slowly fusing and going aflame, “Although I can use my magic, I’ll have to always reuse it in order to keep the puppet moving. These ingredients will make sure that it does without my help. It’s a lifetime deal.”

“You mean she’s going to possess this puppet?” Bart wonders, wide eyes glued to the mixed ingredients.

“Vivi is basically a spirit since she can’t rest in peace just yet, and she needs a vessel,” Sanji replies, “this puppy here will become very much mobile once Vivi possesses it.”

“Cool,” he grins, “I’d love to see that.”

Sanji cocks a brow at him, “You’re not freaked out, Barto?”

“I got spooked when I saw Keimi turn. Have you seen those hair locks, utterly morbid! But compared to that, this is just plain cute.” Bart says on a flippant shrug. “I mean, come on, it’s magic.”

Sanji and the other two snicker in response at the childish portrayal.

“I get what you mean,” Sanji commented, now stuffing the puppet with the burned ingredients. “Zoro is already scary-looking with those thick brows of his and the forever-plastered frown. Imagine the horrors I live when he turns.”

Bart blushes and lowers his head, “I’d have believed you” he starts, “if you weren’t wearing that expression.”

Sanji’s eyes go wild at the remark. He glances around at his friend who is smiling endearingly at him and at Robin who is smirking, before he looks at Bart, his own lips growing into a smile. “Yeah,” he breathes out, admittedly, “But I should probably say the same about you.”

 

 

When the Alpha and his pack and his second in command return, they find a winged hand-puppet of a blue giraffe flying around the living room and a dog sprawled at the foot of the sofa Sanji is occupying. Usopp leaps at the floating puppet with claws spurting out, ready to swipe at it, before Sanji and his earlier company rush to stop him.

“It’s Vivi.” Robin hollers.

“Don’t rip her apart, you idiot.” Sanji mumbles, “I’ve gone through some trouble making that.”

Usopp finally grinds into a halt and pushes a brow up, “Would someone please explain why a puppet is flying in our living-room then?”

“Oh, let me.” Bart perks up, grinning from ear to ear.

“That ought to be interesting.” Zoro states, now heading Sanji’s way, sweat stains on his chest and back, beads of it on his forehead also, soaking his hair. “Hey,” he tells his mate in a low whisper, assured that everyone is exploring the new magical trick Sanji pulled on them.

Sanji looks up from his seat, hands palmed out on his belly. His plump lips pressed together and spreading into a smile, “cooled off?”

Zoro nods silently. He knows the meaning of the hint and he agrees. He needed the ‘cooling off”, driving the pack through hell helped. He presses a hand to Sanji’s nape, stroking it, “Do I have to worry about you passing out again after pulling off another magic show?”

Sanji chortles, “Damn you, Mr. Ronoa” he jokes, “I do something so extraordinary like swapping Vivi’s spirit to a different vessel but you blow it just by standing there. How do you manage to look sexy with just your sweat-drenched shirt anyway?”

Zoro remains silent, gives a faint smirk before leaving altogether, bounding up the stairs in haste.

Sanji covers his cheeks. He can’t believe it, he cannot believe it. Zoro is embarrassed!

 

 

After dinner which was interrupted intermittently by questions aimed at Bart and comments about a déjà-vu from Sanji, because he’s been through that before, they all lounge in the living-room. The guys bond at the side, and the girls manicure each other’s nails at the other. Law is using his laptop, working on something. Vivi is hovering over the vicinity of the group of quibbling girls. Zoro and Sanji are on their rightful sofa, holding hands. Sanji is reclining his back on his mate’s chest, legs stretched on the seat. His head shouldered by one broad, marble shoulder. His hair fanned out on the fabric of Zoro’s black tee.

During dinner, Bart prompted a question that had the pack staggering for an answer to as well. Sanji didn’t know how much controversy his pregnancy sparked up, but after the question, he only smiled in response and changed the subject. Under his Alpha mate’s watchful eyes, the pack did not push the issue.

“But I do want to know,” Zoro whispers into Sanji’s ear, his fingers interlacing with his. “It’s not something you see every day, and not to mention this is you, so I’m worried.”

Sanji gives himself a moment, allowing the comfort to pave its road to his heart. “But are you sure, it’s a little ugly.”

Zoro nods, his cheek rubbing on Sanji’s.

“Alright then, just remember, _you_ asked.” Sanji begins, “When the Fertility Deity zapped me with the impregnating spell, she didn’t finish her homework. I realized after seeing the eccentric doctor I told you about, not really sure if I did but yeah, I did see a doctor, I was told that the placenta was very thin and could endanger me and my baby during surgery if ruptured. The pregnancy was just the first hurdle, the birth canal, well, that was another thing.” He said, now blowing out a deep breath. “I needed a different spell to create a canal. I didn’t know any spells and nor did Charlotte, those are apparently a rare thing. But she knew someone who had them so we went to see that person, and man, was she strange, nice and all, but hella strange. She said she would give me the spell but on a condition, I had to play a little game.”

“A game?”

“Yeah, I had to pick a number from one to three, and she’d give me the spell that belonged to that number.” He answers, “Turned out there’s only three canal spells that are actually known of, and they were all tricky.”

“What did you do? Did you pick one?”

“I had to,” Sanji simply shrugs, both his hands now touching and stroking Zoro’s. “Anyway, each month, the passage would stretch by a few centimeters, tearing my flesh starting from the outside and inward. Very painful and sucked donkey balls, man. I tried to cheat my way out of it once, but it’s like the spell has a conscience of its own. For example, if I cheated by tearing the flesh by ten millimeters, which would normally take a couple of months to open, I’d need to go through the process of my flesh closing and reopening ten millimeters in one go, and I don’t have to remind you of the part about agonizing pain. I tried tearing the rest of the flesh apart so I wouldn’t endure it for the coming months, but six or seven hours later, the entire canal closed only to reopen again.”  He stops mid-sentence. He sort of builds in pauses for Zoro, knowing he will take it in bits and pieces. “It doesn’t stop here, though. The canal is gliding its way up just above my prostate gland, so after the tearing and stretching, the canal starts to twitch in order to adjust to the new space. By doing so, it causes me –um, certain convulsions, so to speak, that I can’t control.” He mumbles, “My body reacts violently, but there are usually no brain activity involved, just me not knowing how to react to my gland getting rubbed constantly in a short span of time.”

Zoro is silent, too silent for Sanji’s liking.

“Since the spell is magical, no amount of masturbation can stop the tremors because the rub is from the inside. To put it bluntly for you, I have to get fucked in order for the convulsions to stop.” He whispers on a scoffing chuckle.

“What about the canal? How’s it going to work at the day of the delivery?” Zoro demands, there’s worry slowly snaking its way to his voice.

“The canal is like a tube of flesh,” Sanji provides, “it’s tearing its way inside to connect to the placenta. It’s supposed to expand at the day of the delivery, emphasis on supposed.”

“What do you mean?” Zoro frowns deeply, “You’re not even sure if it’s going to work?”

“No, no, it will.” Sanji rushes to reassure his mate.

“So what’s the catch?”

“There’s a rub,” Sanji admits, “remember the three canal spells I told you about? Well, they aren’t exactly perfect.” He resumes the elaboration, “first canal, which is widely used by victims of fertility deities, sometimes doesn’t connect to the placenta. During the day of giving birth, there’s an eighty percent chance for the baby to get squeezed by the canal because it’s no longer attached to the placenta, causing the baby a slow painful death.” He says, “The second canal spell is a total joke. It doesn’t expand and it’s used by certain creatures than others. So people like me can’t use it because there’s a chance for the baby to get stuck and I never want to imagine Ren’s body stuck between my legs.” He shakes his head sadly, “The third spell, the one I used, works, sometimes.”

“Sometimes?” Zoro almost bellows.

“Just let me finish,” Sanji requests, “Beside the painful process of the stretching and the tearing, there’s a high chance of blood loss after the delivery.”

Zoro growls, he fucking growls. He tears his hands away from Sanji’s to spread them out on his belly, like if he did that enough, threat of blood loss will be avoided.

“I can’t rely on surgery because in the tenth month –I’m giving birth in ten months by the way, not nine, the inspissated placenta thins out. One wrong poke and it’d burst, overflowing my internal organs with water. It’d be very ugly.” Sanji comments offhandedly, “I also can’t rely completely on the canal until then. After birth, it remains open and with the internal torn flesh, there’s a high risk of blood loss, _massive_ blood loss.”

“Why the hell are you still going along with it then?” Zoro roars.

“Will you just let me finish my fucking sentence, please?” Sanji asks, nicely. “Thank you” he says after Zoro fell silent. “Since I can’t go through with surgery before because the fetus isn’t old enough without bones and organs, I can wait until the end of the eighth month. I told you before, Ren is old enough now and I think I can survive it since the placenta has thickened, and Ren won’t have to be incubated.”

“What about complications?” Zoro demands, hands stroking the large belly.

“I did my research,” Sanji reassures, “the only complication there is the blood loss, but with my spell and Rob’s hospital, I think I’ll put it off.” He says, “I’ll close the canal using my magic. Basically, I’ll be cheating. But if I’m not too lucid, Dr. Lucci can sew it up for me.”

Zoro wraps his arms around Sanji’s chest, nose and mouth nuzzling against Sanji’s neck, “Why do you never say anything to me?”

“I just did.” Sanji chuckles sweetly, his hands clasping Zoro’s by the forearms. “Besides, you’ve had a lot on your mind lately, didn’t want to pressure you or anything. I’ve got it under control, don’t worry.”

Zoro never experienced human sickness, well except for that bit after his withdrawal. Things like blood loss can kill humans, and here is his mate, talking in a frivolous manner about a tiny detail that could kill him. He saw others die because of it, and he doesn’t want to see the same thing happen to Sanji. He won’t stand it.

He squeezes his hold on Sanji, almost whimpering into his neck.

Sanji lolls his head around to plant a kiss on Zoro’s jaw, “I’ll be fine,” he says, his hand petting Zoro's head. “I’m giving birth to Ren and I’m gonna make sure I survive it.”

“You do that.” Zoro urges, all determined, “I don’t want to lose you.”

Sanji’s heart flutters at the uttered words. Zoro is being like this –showing a rare moment of weakness with the pack, Law and Robin, and _even_ Bart in their proximity. He doesn’t care. He won’t care about his nightmarish flashbacks.

Tonight, he is going to make Zoro’s fantasy come true.

 

 

Pregnant, barefoot and donning a beige bathrobe… this is not how Sanji expected his life would to turn out at the age of 27. He is mated to an Alpha werewolf –made Hybrid by his blood which, by the way, seems very much magical. His dead childhood friend is very much alive –whether he is a walking dead or not is debatable. Robin, used-to-be Gumiho, lives under his roof and apparently, Law’s now, too, as a revived human. He is surrounded by mythical creatures that should be a mere myth but remember the new world order? But what really worries Sanji right now, in this particular moment, is how he would get to make love with Zoro without dissociating in the middle and giving his mate a trauma with a lifetime worth of therapy.

Law and Robin left an hour ago, taking the dog with them. They also offered a ride to Bart but Keimi turned it down, wanting her boyfriend to spend the night over. Vivi is flying somewhere in the house, admiring her new vessel. He guesses the pack is still in the living room, bonding.

He is inside the bedroom, standing by the windows and drying his ear-length hair with a towel. The midnight sky of this cold October evening is veiled by grey clouds allowing the full moon to peek into view from time to time, illuminating the pines intermittently.

 

After he got out of the bathroom, he came across Zoro in the hallway, but before the two could exchange words, Bart and Keimi had coughed for their attention. So Sanji left Zoro to it. Bart had vouched for some proofs that he wouldn’t get jumped at by Nami or any of the pack, and Keimi made sure he got it.

 

Sanji tosses the towel on the sill of the window and heads to the bed, knocks off his slippers and slides under the white coverlet, not bothering to slip out of the bathrobe. He hears a chirp coming from his phone, finds Charlotte’s message and a photo attached of her and her new girlfriend, grinning from ear to ear, eyes sprinkling by the flash. Sanji guesses their happiness has something to do with the reflected glint.

He realizes, with amazement, that he and Zoro don’t have photos of them together.

He is leaning on the headboard with pillows stuffed behind his back. His engorged belly sticking out from the parted bathrobe panels, and as he looks around, trying to find an answer as to why he and Zoro don’t have photos of them together, the latter’s voice makes its way into the room through the door left ajar. Although, apart from the handful of words he says because he isn’t usually talking abundantly, his voice still sounds deep and sexy.

Ren throws a kick out of the blue, and Sanji’s lips part into a grin.

“Staying up again, snuggle bunny?” he asks aloud, hands expanding on the stretched skin of his belly, stroking. “Just don’t expect any lenience after you come out of your hiding, ask your dad, I’m not so generous. I won’t spoil you.”

The dad being a reference to a joke Nami made while still downstairs about who would Ren call dad and whom he would call mom. Turned out none of the parents were keen about the whole mom thing, although the pack agreed that Sanji would –and he quotes– ‘slay the role because he is already the pack mama’, but in conclusion, and this was suggested by, wait for it, Zoro himself, dad and papa could work interchangeably and none of them would mind. Sanji hogged the papa title because he liked the idea of a three-year-old Ren wobbling around the house like a new born chick and yelping 'papa, carry me' for him.

Ren’s hand pushes against the skin, framing it with his tiny digits. Sanji is speechless for a moment; he’s seen this hand many times before but he doesn’t know why he feels this sudden rush of emotions like he did the first time he saw the display. He assumes it has something to do with the fact that he’ll be giving birth at the end of this month, it’s possible.

“Me too,” he tells him, arms now wrapping around his belly, “I can hardly wait to see you.”

Ren kicks again, shifting the take it back to the subject at hand.

“And I won’t allow Zoro to overindulge you either,” he promises, “I don’t want you to grow into one of those spoiled brats who throw anger tantrums to get what they want.” He explains, “You’re going to be courageous, daring and incisive like your dad–”

“Compassionate, kind and enterprising like his papa,” Zoro finishes for him.

Sanji looks up, a pack of ‘gorgeous’ shipped to his door with a bottle of water in hand. A sculpture-shaped body framed by indoor wears, bulging dips and protruded biceps under that black T-shirt. Sanji feels a corner of his mouth lifting, “Fearless and charming like you.”

Zoro closes the door, waits until it clicks, “Enthusiastic and bold, just like you.”

Sanji’s bottom lip glides between his teeth, eyes on Zoro’s who is heading his way, soles thumping the panel. He parts his knees, lifts an elegant hand, and with a deliberately dawdled flick of his slender index, Sanji motions Zoro to the bed.

 

 

His body is cushioned by pillows, engorged belly protruding out in the open. Messy strands of hair fanning on his reddened face, a face that looks hot and fevered. Mouth parted open, drooling. Chocked-off moans and gasps uttered, cut off by wanton whimpers. Hands clutching at the sheets, getting drowned in the pile of pillows beneath, and then he feels it, like another cover of hotness and fever his mate’s body been providing his, Zoro’s lips, wet and salivated, mouth at his neck, tonguing under his jaw and nibbling only to tease. Sanji draws out another moan.

“Yes…” he almost cries, eyebrows contorted, “oh God, yes…”

The meek voice incites Zoro so he lifts the knee he has in hand higher only to drill his cock deeper.

“God!” Sanji yelps, his toes curling and fingers clenching on the fabric. “Deeper…” he croaks out, “Hammer me with your cock, Zoro!”

Zoro’s hips snap again and he pounds into his mate, cock penetrating to the balls, hitting Sanji’s inside and stretching him and filling him up. Sanji clutches an arm around his belly, reminding himself not to get completely lost in the unbelievable feeling. Zoro thrusts, and thrusts and thrusts into him until Sanji arches off of him, cock tilting a little to spurt its precum.

“I’m ‘onna…” he breathes out, heavily, “Gonna…” Sanji’s eyes are closed tight at the pleasurable feeling washing over him. His mouth is open so wide, falls close only when he grits his teeth.

“You gonna cum for me, huh?” Zoro urges, deep voice purring into Sanji’s ear. “Do it, cum lots. Want to see your face as you cum.”

The wisps of dark hair brush over Sanji’s skin. He throws his hand to Zoro’s head, fingers entangling into the locks, wanting to feel much of his mate as he climaxes. His cum fucking spills like a fountain, and if it weren’t for the pastiness, he’d have mistaken it for urine.

“Jesus fuck, J.” Zoro lets out a groan, placing soft pecks to his mate’s neck now with the intention to comfort. It vaguely reminds him of the zestful Husky he used to own while a kid, how after ever hunt gone wrong, the Husky would lick its wounds until they healed.

Sanji has shuddered at the resultant tremors of him ejaculating, but his muscles are relaxing now. “Mm…” he grunts, head lolling on the pillows to one side, and eyes slowly opening to slits. His lips are overcome by a dopey grin.

Zoro hasn’t come yet, but this night is far from over. He watches keenly as Sanji relaxes under him, puckered entrance twitching on his shaft. It almost brings him to his own climax but he resists. As Sanji’s head rolls so that he is facing him, Zoro rests the leg he has clutched in his grip down on the bed sheets and uses that hand to stroke his engorged belly, assured that Sanji isn’t fearful of their proximity anymore. He leans down into his mate’s space, taking his slightly parted lips in his. Plump, voluptuous lips feel so smooth against his.

Sanji’s always loved kissing Zoro, something about their noses knocking and tongues flicking together overdrives his senses of good and pleasurable.

Zoro pushes his tongue deep inside Sanji’s mouth, exploring the depths and juts of his teeth and flesh. It’s wet –the kiss. _So_ wet, fused with scorching breath which the two can feel hitting their faces. Sanji brushes his tongue against Zoro’s, swiftly, again and again after every suck. Blue pupils slowly drowning under his eyelids as the kiss deepens and loud groans make their way out of the deepest of his throat. His hand clasps a few strands of Zoro’s locks. The movement is smooth at first, but as he feels Zoro pulling his cock out, his grasp tightens until Zoro winces, pulling away from the kiss altogether.

Sanji looks up at him with reproach.

 

He can’t even bring himself to believe that this is actually happening. He –and he is pretty sure even Zoro– thought he’d dissociate in the middle and leave the latter half-hard to mend for himself. Zoro was very turned on tonight, still is, not about time, so he was _very_ convincing in his persuasion. Soon as he mounted Sanji, said man started to develop a small case of panic attack that he tried his best to suppress but was soon overcome had it not been for Zoro, calling his name with those dark eyes of his tearing up. It never happened before so the sight had immediate effect. At one point, Zoro begged him with eyes narrowed and doleful, yet still so _fucking_ alluring and mesmerizing. How does he do that? And it’s not a matter of condescension, by the way, Sanji never needed to be begged so he’d give something in return, especially not by his lover, but something about seeing Zoro on the verge of tears, begging him to trust him for this did something to his inner fears. It undid it, perhaps, and locked it away.

 

So now, of course he would look up at him with reproach. Why is Zoro pulling out?

 

Zoro, stark naked, shuffles and seats himself between Sanji’s parted legs. His muscles tensing as he repositions himself atop his mate on his four, arms on either side of Sanji’s pregnant belly, knees under Sanji’s. “Again, I want to try this again” –Sanji frowns up at the other– “facing you.” Zoro says. His sweat-streaked bangs parachuting his face.

Sanji blinks at last, spreads his folded legs and rests his two hands on his belly. “Wait,” he whispers, voice almost a croak. As Zoro waits, Sanji moves a hand, “this is gonna feel a little uncomfortable at first, but I promise it’s gonna get better after a minute.”

Zoro frowns this time in his stead, nonetheless bringing a pillow under Sanji’s sides so the weight of their baby won’t bother his breathing a second time.

 

When they started and decided to do it missionary, Sanji’s breathing became a little labored in the middle, he ascribed it to Ren’s weight pressing against his diagram which is why they switched and Zoro spooned him.

 

Sanji’s hand glides down his own groin, right to the spot under his balls. He mumbles a strained ‘ætíaþ’ since he has to prop himself on an elbow to keep upright. Zoro wants to demand what he is doing but Sanji is done before he has the chance to. He watches with astonishment how another opening, a half-thump-sized slit, reveals itself, naturally lubricated.

Sanji’s eyes catch Zoro’s, the dire confusion in them almost making him regret his decision to show Zoro what he’s never shown a soul before. “I’m sorry, I thought–” he breaks it off with a sigh, “don’t know what I was thinking to be honest.”

“No, no” Zoro mollifies pretty quickly, “I’m just… amazed. I guess?” He half laughs, “it almost looks like a vig–”

“Don’t” Sanji grouches, embarrassment overcoming him. “Don’t say it out loud, I beg you.”

Zoro complies, eyes still beholding the labia-like slits, “is it okay if I…” he trails off, his eyes darting to Sanji’s.

Sanji nods, “Someone told me I can use it for more than giving birth,” he informs, “I want it to be you, even back then, always you.”

Shock prevails over Zoro’s features, but they soon relent.

“Just,” Sanji prompts up right after Zoro lined his erect cock over the newly revealed opening, “I meant what I said. It’s going to be unbearably uncomfortable. Don’t move after you’ve bottomed out, okay? I’m basically still a virgin down there.”

Zoro, as though propelled by the excitement, nudges the head of his cock against the gap, adjusting. The walls are tight, and the more Zoro pushes against them, the more Sanji squirms and squints under him. The grip of the muscles is solid and tight. Oh, God! So tight, tighter than anything he’s felt before. Anymore and it’d break him in two.

“Fuck” he grits out, teeth clenching on one another.

Sanji can feel his inner muscles stretching and Zoro spreading his insides. He throws his head to the back, assured the pillows will cushion it, and he grips on the sheets beneath him, willing himself to keep from shouting. When that’s the only thing he wants to do right now. Zoro’s face hovers over his collar, hot breath fans on Sanji’s skin as the man lets out continuous, low grunts.

Tears soon spill down Sanji’s eyes, not because it’s painful, he is certain.

“I’ll stop,” Zoro croaks out, “shit, I’ll stop”

“No, don’t you dare!” Sanji quickly locks his legs around Zoro’s waist, keeping him from pulling his cock out. “Come on, move, Zoro. I want to feel you already.”

He was planning on it, on moving, not on pulling out. It’s easier said than done with the fucking tightness promising the best of feelings in the zone of sex. But what’s the point of this if all Sanji is going to get from this is pain.

Said man clings to him again, with his arms this time, touching what he can of Zoro’s skin. His lover –God, his mate. Making love to him at long last. He is in love with this man. He is. “Zoro” He whimpers, something between a desperate cry and a command, “Zoro!”

The latter is bewildered for a second before he smells him, the scent of amorous feelings wafting about him.

“Zoro!” Sanji calls out, holding on to Zoro with dear life, face buried in the latter’s neck.

“I know.” Zoro whispers, “Me too,” he says, and again in assurance “me too.”

He doesn’t wait for another spoken command after that as he rocks his hips and starts thrusting headily fast, swept by the heat and tightness and sliminess,

“Your big cock’s tearing me open!” Sanji cries against Zoro’s neck, warm tears soaking their skin. “It’s going in so deep.”

Zoro pounds Sanji’s slit, moving only his hips. He makes sure to thrust to the rim and then pull to the crown, only to repeat the process all over again, driving Sanji and himself to the extreme.

“Feels _so_ good…”

Zoro hears him grit out, and he fucking agrees to heaven and back.

“It’s grinding against me so much, being stirred up like crazy!” Sanji shouts out this time, not caring who hears it or not anymore and not even caring if his moans sound desperate. “God, it feels so good!” he hiccups.

Zoro drowns himself in the new-found unbelievable sensation, unable to keep a reign on his groans.

The deeper he goes, the more Sanji aches for.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to him.

“Zoro, God, stir me up babe,” Sanji implores, hotly –He suddenly unhooks himself from Zoro, eyes so wide it’s a wonder they aren’t falling off his sockets. “I’m cumming… Oh God!” Palpitation spirals out of rhythm in his ears and chest.

The walls clench around Zoro’s shaft, and he feels the hole sucking him in. Fuck, even milking his cock. He is soon pumping Sanji’s insides full of cum.

 

Heavy panting echoes across the equally silent room.

 

“We” –Sanji breaks off his words as he gulps– “we did it.”

 

Zoro props up on four again, a smile swollen with pride pulling at his lips as he peers down at a sexed-out Sanji, “At last” he agrees.

Sanji’s tightly-closed eyes reopen gradually, sky-blue eyes fascinating Zoro time and time again. And when he beams shyly, Zoro has to grit his teeth to keep from saying something stupid like ‘I love you’.

“Was missing out on so much,” Sanji comments, his eyes more focused now and his breathing more evened out.

“You’re telling me.” Zoro grins, swiping at his sweat-soaked fringe, “You good?”

“Mm,” Sanji nods, sheepish in his action, “I gotta clean this up.”

Zoro scrunches his forehead, “Leave it,” he says, but then something like absolute mirth flashes over his countenance, “Although, I have to say, that little cum fountain of yours was quite the sight.”

Sanji cups Zoro’s mouth to silence him, mirroring the grin, “Stop it, you moronic fur ball.” He beseeches, playfully though, “it piled up, is all.” He mutters, “Don’t bring it up again.”

Zoro kisses the palm on his mouth and rolls his hips, ready to slide his cock out of its nest inside Sanji’s slit, but the latter quickly sends a hand to Zoro’s hip, stopping him.

“Just for a little while,” He rasps, eyes averting the other’s but realizing he can’t find solace anywhere else, he returns his gaze to Zoro’s. “Stay like this.”

Zoro’s mischievous expression tapers off as he nods brusquely, “I can’t stay on four for the rest of the night though” –Sanji nods in agreement– “I won’t take it out but just” –he hooks a hand under Sanji’s knee and hitches it up, now slowly rotating himself, careful not to yank his cock out, and lies behind Sanji, mouth brushing against smooth hair. “Is this okay?”

The other hums, “yeah.”

Zoro rests that leg down and settles to spoon his mate again, rubbing the belly and drowning himself in Sanji’s scent. Then it happens, amongst the pungent scent of cum and sweat, he catches whiff of little nervousness so he has to ask.

“You sure?”

“It’s just, this feeling” Sanji starts, a hand slowly stuffing a small pillow between his legs and soon settling to rub his belly too, “you and Ren… inside me.”

Zoro reels his head sharply at him, clearly surprised.

Sanji winces aloud, “What the hell are you getting bigger for?” He quips.

 


	11. Chapter 11

 

 

Waking up tangled in warmth and safety is a feeling Sanji has experienced with Zoro only.

The bright aqua-flavored detergent these sheets were washed in tells Sanji that, at some point through the night, Zoro managed to change them without disturbing his sleep. Sanji couldn’t be any happier; he needed that sleep. He needed it bad after getting drilled so deep he feels his slit and ass hole still expanded, like they have memorized the shape of Zoro’s cock and won’t be satisfied anymore until they’re rammed by the same cock again, which Sanji is hopeful for. He hopped over a huge hurdle by overcoming his fears, and, now that he’s tasted sex with Zoro again, he is sure there isn’t something out there that can take it away from him.

He feels a hand going through the wealth of his hair, kneading the scalp. “You’re finally up.”

Sanji’s lips part into a lazy grin as he opens his eyes and looks around the room shaded with the faint sunlight, the blinds of the window doing their job well. “Morning” he actually groans it as he pushes himself off of the comfort of pillows only to straddle Zoro’s lap with the latter’s help, keeping the dopy grin plastered on for his pending intentions. “Morning to the most handsome man” –He twines his fingers with Zoro’s who’s looking up at him with amusement on his face– “with the hottest body and the most beautiful dick.”

Zoro, with that charming voice of his that never seems to run out of battery, chuckles, “very poetic, Sanji, you had some sort of personality transplant in your sleep or what?”

Sanji returns the chuckle, “I’ve always been a hopeless slut for your cock, Zoro.”

This time, Zoro barks a laugh, “Very funny, sweetheart, considering I’m the one who begged you last night for the sex.”

Sanji snakes his tongue out to nibble at it with his teeth, grin widening. He soon presses the hands he has interlaced with Zoro’s and bows over the man’s face, something quite vague flashing across his almond-like eyes. “Say it again…”

Zoro’s brows twitch a tiny bit.

“Come on,” Sanji urges, now mouthing at Zoro’s cheek, lips ghosting over the flushed skin. “Say it.” He whispers.

“Sweetheart” whispers Zoro.

Sanji plunders his lips soon after the letters leave that mouth, a forceful and reckless kiss, but earnest in all its twists and workings. Zoro is more than delighted to indulge him; Sanji is slowly but surely making him a kissaholic like he is.

Sanji breaks it off suddenly with a gasp when he feels copious cum sliding down his holes. He rests his forehead on Zoro’s chin to take a breath, lips parted and swollen.

“I need to use the shower,” he croaks, “You came so much inside me.”

Instead of lashing at the remark, or countering with one of his own, Zoro actually gets aroused and his cock is soon springing up like a flag. He hisses, his voice deep and the hiss prolonged. He untwines his fingers from his mate’s and glides them down to his ass instead, groping tightly until Sanji lifts his head up, mewling. 

“You won’t need to move after I put it in,” Zoro grunts, “Lift your hips for me.”

Something flips inside Sanji’s stomach at being ordered, “You ‘going to give it to me, babe?” he moans, bracing his arms on the bed and lifting his hips up as demanded, “Want it, can’t stop wanting you.”

Zoro plunges three fingers into Sanji’s ass hole, stretching it without mercy.

“Oh, fuck!” Sanji keens, face scrunched up.

Zoro grits his teeth to keep from wrenching his fingers out and replacing them with his cock. And it’s true that the opening is slick, but there’s still the danger of it being tight and he doesn’t want to embarrass himself in front of his mate by not reining his stamina right. He uses his other hand to slap Sanji’s ass, before he gropes it again.

Sanji is atop him, straining to keep himself up and whimpering after every slap. “Just…” he manages at last, eyes slanted with hunger, “stick it in, hurry.”

“Not yet.” Zoro isn’t sure if this is about his stamina anymore or he secretly wants Sanji to beg.

“Zoro!” Sanji cries, spraying his hands on the expanse of the said man’s chest. “I can’t take this anymore, please” he pleads, “I’m so turned on for you.”

Zoro’s wolf raises a parade. He yanks his fingers out only to replace them with a cock conspicuous with veins and slick with precum, ready to ravish and mark. It digs its way up through the heat and flesh, and Sanji arches and whimpers again as though he’s been shot. Zoro smirks so deeply he is surprised it doesn’t pull a facial muscle.

“Squat over my cock, Sanji” He orders again, velvety voice drugging Sanji’s mind.

As soon as Sanji hunkers down on the cock, Zoro starts moving his hips, fast up-and-down thrusts, enjoying the sight of his mate becoming undone on top of him. Fucking _riding_ him, he marvels.

“Keep going,” Sanji mutters breathlessly, neck stretching as he throws his head to the back, “don’t stop.”

Why would he?

Zoro didn’t start this on the intention to stop halfway, just hearing Sanji talk earlier about being filled inside with his cum aroused him like no woman or omega in the past had. Sanji was meant for him, and he for Sanji. They’re meant for each other, and, ha-ha, it’s funny how Sanji’s sultry moans are what brought him the realization. But, jokes aside, Sanji is a frigging phenomenon. To get him so worked up like this with just a line spoken unintentionally, a prodigy.

Seeing Sanji hard against the engorged belly, feline eyes slanted, sexy even begging through tears for release, it does something to Zoro’s wolf. It lets it loose from its cage. Soon, he clutches Sanji’s ass cheeks and folds his knees just a little bit so that his legs are laid askew on the sheets, and then he snaps his hips again with the abruptness of lightning.

 

Ronoa Zoro’s word, according to Keimi, is priceless.

Bart had wanted more than a verbal promise before he met the Alpha, assuming the guy was just a control freak who went commando on a few teenagers, but a verbal promise was all he needed after he met the man. Zoro was, to be blunt, intimidating. But he also looked like someone who keeps his word and values a promise, and Bart appreciated that.

Bart fell asleep on the futon with his mind assured, snored throughout the night.

 

The first bout of rain and lightning flash that hits the ground pulls him out of sweet oblivion, Bart sits up, head whipped towards the window. He sees the heavily clouded sky spilling tears on the window glass. The room is dimmed but he can still see Keimi’s body, snuggled under a heap of covers. His startled face softens with a smile.

He’d wronged her by ignoring her, by ignoring her calls when all she wanted was for them to remain together –a noise startles him, a muffled cry cuts his chain of thoughts, and so he removes the quilt off him and lifts up. The noise comes back again, more palpable this time. Bart opens the door, following the sound in a trance. He walks along the hallway, stopping by each door on his way to locate the noise. The echo takes him to a room in the corner, the one Sanji walked into after leaving the shower earlier.

“–amazing… so fucking amazing…”

Bart hears Sanji’s voice, muffled but still so dang clear. He knows he’s a guy and to think of this is kind of weird on his part, but the man’s little whine sounds sexy.

“–ram it in me, Zoro… oh, my _god,_ you feel so good inside me, babe!”

Bart’s face blushes all the way to his nape.

He shouldn’t be here; he shouldn’t be listening to this.

According to Keimi, Ronoa Zoro, although well-respected, he is also feared. He has a tendency to do more than just scowl at anything that invades his territory or intrude on his privacy. Leeching at the door with his ear on the wood is exactly that.

There’s a hole under the knob which faint light radiates from, and against himself, Bart ducks to it.

Maybe, just for a little while…

He latches his eye to the keyhole, but it’s all hazy darkness at first until his vision adapts to the light, and then he sees them: Sanji riding his Alpha on the king size bed, a mountain of pillows around them –Bart’s heart does a double flip– Sanji’s head tilted to the back, face overtaken by raw ecstasy as Zoro pounds into his ass. The latter’s feet buried in the sheets and waist lifted off the bed, movement rough yet skillful.

Yet there’s fondness in his eyes, the eyes –Bart marvels– that he couldn’t help but avert when they talked last night, man-to-man, he may add, and he shriveled up in the presence of the Alpha alone. But there he is, looking so fond at his mate as though the sight of him alone, riding him so hard, it secures Zoro’s life, gives it a meaning even.

But then those loving eyes soon snap at the direction of the door, like he can see Bart crouched by the door, peeping at them like an ‘old pervert’, and pins him with a scathing glare that sends the young man up to his feet and turning around, only to bump to someone.

“Enjoying the show, young man?”

Bart recovers from the hit and looks up, finding the Alpha’s sister, hair dangling her shoulders, shorts and strap top showing most of her body, daunting smirk on her face. He panics.

“No,” he tells her in a whisper, “I –I wasn’t, like, that’s not true.”

 She narrows her eyes at him, her arms slowly crossing over her curvy chest, “oh really?” she drawls, “then what were you doing plastered to the door of the Alpha’s bedroom and peeping through the keyhole, meditating?”

“I heard a noise, didn’t know they were–” he makes a gesture with his hands by locking his fingers together.

Yellowness swivels inside those large eyes of hers, and it chills Bart down to the bone.

“Go back to you room, kid.” She says through a sigh.

Bart shoots to the direction of Keimi’s room which, obviously, is also his now, and not even once does he look behind.

 

“Why’d you stop, Zoro?”

Kuina hears Sanji moan through heavy breathing, it makes her smile. “Go for it, little brother…”

 

 

 

Sanji’s cock is soon spurting all over his belly and Zoro’s groin. He fans down with a barely-stifled whimper, but the other catches him in time so he wouldn’t lie flat on his pregnant belly.

“Careful,” he whispered, now bringing his thrusts to an agonizingly slow rhythm. “You’re good, Sanji. God, that was hot.”

Sanji lifts up with the other’s help, chest still rising and falling, “took the words” –he pants– “outta my mouth.”

The corner of Zoro’s mouth curves up, smirking, now bringing a folded arm under his head and the other to Sanji’s cum-covered belly, absentmindedly stroking it and rubbing semen on the stretch marks.

“I’d have brought a lotion if I wanted a massage.”

“Semen is healthier for your skin.” Zoro chortles.

“Does that mean I get to suck you off?” Sanji nibbles at his bottom lip, suggestively.

“You want to suck me off, Sanji?”

Just the way he says it… God damn!

He leans his mouth down to Zoro’s, without hesitation, and seizes his lips. They both groan and moan into each other’s mouth, sharing breath and heat, until Sanji pulls away from the kiss to tongue his way to Zoro’s ear, enjoying the contented sighs the man lets out.

“Always dreamed of it,” he breathes out, “back in Kansan, busted Uri and Conis going at it like the world was gonna end, and it got me so turned on. Jerked off to thoughts of me sucking off your dick, the entire night.”

“Fuck” Zoro grits out, feeling his mate slowly lifting off his rigid cock that still seeks relief.

Sanji tongues his way down to Zoro’s collarbone now, licking through wildly parted lips, wet noises making him delirious. Holy crap, the taste of Zoro’s skin inside his mouth is unreal. “Uri caught me calling out your name once while ejaculating.” He finds Zoro’s erect nipple and suckles on it, feeling a hum reverberating across his throat in agreement when Zoro groans, “you know what I’d been thinking of when he caught me?”

“My dick” Zoro purrs, squirming a little over the pillows.

Sanji’s eyes look up to meet his mate’s, appealing and loving, “Hard and erect” with one sweep, he takes Zoro’s cock in his mouth, _all_ of it.

“Crap, Sanji” Zoro perks up, muscles protruding and brows contorting. He beholds the sight of Sanji, pregnant, a swollen belly sticking out of his middle, covered with pasty, thick semen. His feline eyes closed and plump lips closing around the head of the swollen cock, sucking it off in earnest: he is beautiful.

Zoro brushes Sanji’s hair with the hand he had under his head and clutches a fistful when the other flaps his tongue on the crown of the cock, saliva and precum fusing together before Sanji’s mouth dives on it again, leaving no part of it visible until it bulges in his cheek.

“Don’t swallow.” Zoro manages in one strained breath.

Sanji changes his position a little so that the weight of his baby doesn’t give him nails in his limbs.

 

Not long and Zoro yanks his mate’s head off of his cock by the locks of hair he has clutched in his fist as he sends his cum gushing out, hitting Sanji’s face. And while he lies there, relishing the afterglow in utter bliss, Sanji crawls atop him again, elated at the sight he helped create.

“Like I thought,” he notes out, “you still taste good.”

Zoro looks up at him through his blissful trance, grinning halfway, “How in the world did you learn to do that?”

“Practice,” Sanji shrugs, stretching a hand to the nightstand for the wet wipes, but as he struggles with the thing, Zoro drowns himself in the heat coming off his mate and the feeling of skin ghosting over his, the bared neck hovering over his face –Sanji manages to get hold of the box and he pecks out two to three wipes and returns to mount the man beneath, “You didn’t need to get me so dirty, you bastard.”

Zoro clasps Sanji’s wrist, stopping him from wiping his face, “I don’t get it.”

“What, that I’ve got all your jizz on my face? Get over it man, this isn’t porn.” Sanji huffs and tries to wrench his wrist from Zoro’s hold, except, he can’t, and Zoro’s so unfair using that werewolf power on him. “What’s with you?”

“Your scent,” Zoro starts but stops at Sanji’s head tilt.

Sanji gives him a cheeky smirk. “Show-off” He accuses, “and rude, you can’t just sniff me and then brag about scent-marking me.”

“What, no, that’s not what I wanted to say,” Zoro clarifies, “Your scent is slowly overpowering mine.”

“And that should worry me why exactly?”

“I’ve cummed inside you so hard it would give stomach deformation to anyone else. I cummed on your face and been scent-marking you since I walked in through that door,” he exclaims, “your scent should be gone by now, but it’s not.”

“Hey now, don’t go diminishing my existence.” Sanji jokes, “wolf or not, you have no right to rid of my scent.”

“This is serious.”

“So is my boner,” Sanji chuckles, now dragging his mouth to Zoro’s to kiss the scowl away, “been telling you about my teenage fantasies of you and all you worry about is your ego?”

“No, you’ve been telling me about your teenage fantasies of my dick, there’s a difference.” Zoro, for a glorious second, grins like an idiot. “Besides, you talking about Katakuri doesn’t sit well with me. You know the thought of you with someone else drives me nuts.”

Sanji lifts off to pout down at his mate, “I put on a show for you but you manage to melt my heart away with just a line.”

Zoro scoffs and looks away.

“Also,” Sanji added, now pecking at the man’s exposed neck, “the thought of you with Sasha, or any female coworker, it drives me over the edge and all I want to do is use my magic to wipe their libido off the face of Earth.” He flashes his teeth and grazes the skin, “you’re mine, Zoro, and I can’t forgive anyone who comes in between us.”

“Quoting me to me?” Zoro sneers. The things Sanji tells him at night… he is a happy man now.

So out of the blue, Sanji sinks his teeth into the skin having the vein under the pulse point goading him on, and Zoro winces, eyes shutting tight. He feels their cocks nestled against each other, pulsating at the action.

“Also copying this,” Sanji mumbles through skin and smears of blood, and he slowly pulls away, licking the abused area, “tastes weird.”

Zoro cups his injury and faces Sanji, “you find my semen tasty but you can’t handle a taste of my blood?”

“Joke about that and it’d be the last blow job you ever get from–” he cuts himself off when he winces suddenly, face paling a little and eyes widening.

“What is it?” Zoro is soon propping his head up, on the alert.

Sanji brings a hand to his abdomen and the other stays braced on the bed, “remember the abdominal contractions I told you about?”

“They’re happening?” Zoro marvels, “ _now_?”

Sanji groans as another contraction shoots through his middle, “they don’t call before they hit me, ass clown.”

Zoro can hear his mate’s pulse going up at an alarming rate, so he sits up and helps Sanji lie back on the pillows, concern veiling his eyes, “Do I call Kuina? I don’t suppose Rob is home yet but maybe I should send for him…”

But Sanji is already shaking his head on a wry smile, hands clutching at his belly, “not gonna last,” he tells him, and just then, a massive shock of contraction hits him like a sack of rocks to the face, and he doubles over on a whimper.

“Kuina!” Zoro is already shouting.

“I’m just having contractions, not going through labor.” Sanji grumbles, voice strained with pain. “Stop shouting for your sister like a kid lost in the mall.”

Zoro’s hand meanders over Sanji’s forehead, but black veins soon travel up his arm so his worry multiplies, “stop the bravado,” he seethes, “you’re in pain, Sanji, you said not a lot of pain is involved.”

“Obviously, I made a mistake.” Sanji grouches through gritted teeth, “Holy hell, Zoro, they never used to hurt like this.”

 

*******

 

“I’ve prepared the bathtub just in case,” Kuina informs from her perch by the footboard of Zoro’s bed. She’s just walked out of a square passage next to the armoire, which turned out to be a secret door to a bathroom Zoro uses when humidity doesn’t bother him. “Rob is heading to town at last, said it’d take forty minutes, tops.”

“We don’t have forty minutes” Zoro grouses from his perch on the bed, hands splayed on Sanji’s sides to leach the pain away. “These contractions aren’t very far apart, so I need to make sure he isn’t in labor.”

“I need to pee.” Sanji suddenly blurted out, wheezing through gritted teeth. “I seriously need to pee.”

“In a time like this, J, you might be in labor and all you’re worried about your bladder?” The look on her is so comical but he can’t afford to laugh at a time like this, none of them can.

“Toilet, now!” He responds, sitting up with Zoro’s aid. The man hoists him up bridal style and makes his way to the wall panels beside the bed, which infuriates Sanji who is already in so much pain; Zoro being screwy in a time like does not help. “You lost your sense of direction, _honey_? The bathroom is that way!”

Zoro rolls his eyes and beckons to Kuina to twist one of the round décor mirrors on the wall, which she does, and, soon, it rumbles and a square opening widens into the shape of a door.

 “You have a secret passage in your bedroom?” Sanji exclaims, his hands locking around Zoro’s neck as the uncomfortable pressure builds up in his abdomen again. “Never bothered to bring it up?”

Zoro treads into the room, snaps his fingers and the lights turn on, bringing the classy bathroom into view.

“I don’t like humidity.” Zoro reasons as he places Sanji on the lid of the toilet.

As Sanji levers up to his two achy legs, knees protesting to lock but to no avail until Zoro intervenes, clasping hands on his mate’s elbows and helping him upright, he suddenly hisses at the distant pop he hears. Something sticky tickles slowly down his thighs, and, then, a hollow gush of water spills to the tiles, and apparently, even Zoro hears it. Of course he does, everyone in the building ought to. The gush sounded like someone has just filled a bucket and poured its content on someone’s head. As he switches to look down, eyes widening at the revelation, Sanji panics.

“Holy crap” He exclaims, “ _holy crap_!”

“It’s amniotic fluid.” Zoro corrects on a sigh, scrambling to lead Sanji to the bathtub instead because his water just broke.

Sanji hollers, “Holy amniotic fluid crap!” His hands grasping to clutch at Zoro’s arms for support, “I’m going through labor? Are you fucking kidding me?”

“Get inside the tub, can’t have you tripping on the tiles.”

Sanji obliges but keeps on cussing his luck, his hands still reaching for Zoro’s to feel the anchor by his side, some sort of comfort, he assumes. It’s fucked up. He’s a healthy 27 year-old man and he’s delivering the baby two months before due date. “Zoro, this should not be happening now.”

“I know,” the other soothes, fumbling with the tap to level the water temperature, keeping his eyes away because someone needs to stay level-headed, and that someone can’t be Sanji. “We’ll figure it out. You just... hang on for me, okay?”

 Kuina is soon storming in with worry flawing her sleep-deprived face, “he needs assessment, brother, and we are not experts to do that.”

“Don’t you think I know that?” he retorts, his hands keeping Sanji steady as the man winces and groans separately. “But I can’t trust them to handle him, you understand? Some people are out there to get me. I’m not handing my mate to someone I don’t know.”

“What do you suggest we do?” she goads, “he’s giving birth, the pack is panicking and I’m officially starting to freak out.”

“It’ll be fine,” Sanji suddenly assures, eyebrows contorted on his sweaty forehead but he still looks confident somehow. “I did my homework because I’d planned on a home birth all along, you guys being here doesn’t change anything except now I can use the little help.”

“What do we do?” They urge in unison that it makes him smile in immediate response.

“Wait.” He tells them, simply, “we just need to wait it out, and I am not inducing the delivery if this is some false alarm.” He doubts it is though. His water already broke, unless Ren has a magical tap from which he can fill up the placenta again. “So the best thing to do now is wait.”

“What’s going to happen to you?” Zoro demands, crouching down to Sanji’s eye-level, concern in his own.

“The slit is gonna stretch, dilating to full expanse. Remember the painful process I told you about?” he explains and his hands palms out on his belly, resulting in deep sloshes since he is covered with water to his midsection, “might get ugly, blood and gooey stuff will start coming out. I might scream like a girl too, but it’s temporary until I shoot him out.”

Zoro, amidst his astonishment, snaps his head towards the door and it gets the other two perking up with alarm “What the hell is mother doing here?”

Kuina and Sanji share a fervent glance before the former tilts her head at her brother, who hitches up to his feet, eyebrows twisting under his fringe.

“Zoro,” Sanji croaks out, wryly. “Are you losing your shit, because, dude, not cool. I’m giving birth to our baby in a few hours.”

Zoro looks at him with features scrunched up in distaste, “I’m aware of that, smartass. What I can’t figure out is why I can feel mother’s presence all of a sudden.”

Sanji is taken by another sudden contraction and he lurches forward, curling around his belly and gasping hard. Zoro slides down to him in no time, placing a hand on his bare back to rub in circular motions.

“Breathe, J, just breathe through it and you–” He almost chokes on his words when droplets of blood soar up to the surface and thaw out into crimson wavy lines. “Is this the part where you start bleeding?”

“This is the part he starts dilating.” Someone says from behind.

Zoro turns his head to the source, so does Kuina, finding their mother by the door frame, hands clutching a purse. Her pearl pendent reflects her glossy red lipstick.

 

**Zenny’s household in town, yesterday:**

Zenny Young, possessed by slimy black goo, stood perched at the doorway of his house, looming on the entrance like a shadow, darkening the crimson on the plank of the entryway where his wife and daughter rested, lifeless and slaughtered.

The fading moon reflected his Cheshire smile as he sauntered out to the streets, planning on locating his next prey.

 

**Ronoa Zoro’s house, now:**

“Mother!” Kuina’s face brightens up and she dashes to the older woman, winding her arms around her neck and resting her chin on Mrs. Ronoa’s shoulder.

Zoro is taken aback for a beat at the child he sees in Kuina as she soaks in the comfort of their mother, for all her preaching and equivocate effrontery, Kuina sure finds no qualms squeaking like a little girl at the sight of her mother. He closes his eyes to that so as to focus on a more pressing matter after Sanji gasped and clutched at his hand like he’s the only buoy in his survival experience.

Seeing Sanji in so much pain and bleeding, even, plagues his head with dreary thoughts of what awaits at the end of this tunnel. It doesn’t get easy. Sanji’s painful predicaments, it’d never get easy to stomach especially if Zoro has no idea how to stop it.

“Wouldn’t it take at least 12 hours before he starts the huffing and puffing part?” Zoro inquires. His frightened eyes shine red with excessive worry.

“I’m not gonna huff or puff, you bastard.” Sanji bites out through gritted teeth. His grip clenches harder on Zoro’s hand. “At least wait till I pass out before you talk like I’m not even here.”

Zoro, knowing how indignant being saddled with pain usually feels, ignores him.

Mrs. Ronoa unwinds her daughter’s arms from her neck, hands over her Brook work purse to her oldest and approaches the tub, folding the sleeves of her turquoise, satin lapelled shirt to the elbows. “I’ve had time to ask around, and I know this is different than my last misinformation about–” –she glances fervently at Zoro at that– “anyway,” she shakes her head out of her inner thoughts, “I know enough now to bring you both out of the woods.”

Zoro, as well as Sanji, marvel at the fact that Mrs. Ronoa is actually offering help.

Last year, Mrs. Ronoa told Zoro he was turning into a Lycan, and she was pretty adamant about her theory. It didn’t stop there, though. Convinced of her theory, she ended up blaming and hating Sanji, causing his insecurity that’d already been bludgeoned by Law’s comeback back then to flatten.

“It’s fine, mother.” Zoro tells her after a pause, “We can handle it from here.”

Sanji ignores the next contraction, only grimaces as reaction, and watches Mrs. Ronoa’s face being conquered by slight vexation. He fears what tantrum might follow, but the vexation soon turns into raw penitence.

“No, you can’t.” She says, “Not by yourselves anyway.”

“Ah!” Sanji whimpers again, folding in on himself again and letting go of Zoro’s hand. The latter is soon taking his eyes off his mother to soothe his mate, help him through his pain.

“We need to check his dilatation.” Mrs. Ronoa suddenly blurts, gaining their attention again.

“No.” This time, it’s Sanji who protests, “I don’t want anyone near my crotch.”

“Hey,” Zoro relents, as though coaxing a kid, “it’s going to be fine.”

Sanji glares at him, face washed out by a shade of grey save only for the spots of flushed cheeks and a forehead exuding with sweat. “No means no,” he grouses, “Am I speaking in Spanish?” It’d still sound the same in Spanish, though.

“Sanji,” Mrs. Ronoa tries to wheedle him by the soft tone of her voice, “I am quite certain that at this point we are past the self-consciousness, and I am only here to help, I give you my word.”

Which he really isn’t in dire need of, he’d survived just fine the past eight months, so he doesn’t need to get probed unnecessarily for something he’d studied for months. His complaints fade away from him when he throws his head to the rim of the tub, moaning in pain.

“Spread your legs.” She orders, “I need to see.”

Sanji shakes his head in response, eyes shut close. “No, I can’t.” he almost sobs, “Zoro, no.”

Zoro cups the back of Sanji’s neck, leaching away his pain, “we’re trying to help, Sanji, let us.”

“No!” Sanji hollers, and when his eyes snap open at his Alpha, his pupils are a beautiful shade of silver.

Zoro almost recoils, faltering on his haunches, and Mrs. Ronoa retreats to the back so no bouts of magic can hurt her.

Agh, he didn’t mean to scare them. “Don’t make me do this, Zoro.” The defiance on his face wanes, replaced by defeat and a grimace, “a whole year, a whole fucking year,” he wheezes, allowing the insinuation to sink home before he speaks again, “So no, I’m not gonna let anyone near me, no offense but I can handle it.”

Zoro raises conciliating hands, “Whatever you want, then, all I care about is your safety.”

Sanji groans in response, making the others wonder whether he heard Zoro or not. His head lolls on the tub’s rim and his eyes flutter close, “I’m being ridiculous.” He suddenly sighs, lets his arm sag out of the tub for Zoro to hold –which the Alpha does immediately. Sanji’s eyes part open again, the glowing silver in his pupils wanes to the habitually blue hue, and then he beholds the concern in Zoro’s face. “My safety, huh” He smiles; a wan smile that unsettles Zoro, but it’s disregarded when Sanji starts to part his legs very slowly, making the water slosh. “But I want it to be you.” He still insists, “That’s my offer, take it or leave it.”

Zoro levers up a little so that he is standing askew. He hooks two arms underneath Sanji’s and hoists him up, splashing water around them. “Sit on the ridge” he instructs, “keep your legs parted.”

 

 

**Zenny’s house, now:**

Barricades are placed intentionally apart to separate the onlookers and the house where a brutal murder has taken place. A forty-four year-old mother and her twenty year old daughter were sawed last night, and CSI have scanned the crime scene and given their portion of the analysis. All the defense wounds, the position of the weapons and the two bodies lead to one conclusion: apparently, the two female victims did that to each other.

A quick background dig points to another family member, the father, who had turned in his resignation to the high school he works at two nights ago before he went missing.

They bag the bodies and put out an APB to all units, hoping the stand-by would speed up the arrest.

Although he is the prime suspect, the CSI assures them the invalidity of the accusation.

 

 

**Back at Zoro’s place:**

“Gross.” Zoro scrunches up his nose when he feels between Sanji’s legs but receives a whack to his head for his trouble.

“It’s not gross when you put your cock in it?”

Mrs. Ronoa and other spectators or not, Sanji is going to deliver the punch.

Zoro clicks his tongue to show his annoyance, but all his demeanors show only concern and care. “So what am I supposed to watch for?”

“See if his birth canal has dilated yet.” Mrs. Ronoa coaches, craning her neck to see.

Zoro peers into the slit, finding it puffy and oozing blood, nonetheless widening. “Yes, I’m pretty sure it’s dilating.” His eyes go up to catch Sanji’s, grimacing as though a knife is piercing his heart, and it might as well. “Does it hurt a lot? Do you want me to leach more pain?”

Sanji ruffles his sleek black hair, “aren’t you a gentleman.” He drones, “Although your offer is pretty irresistible, but I have to decline. Pain is a major factor in knowing whether I have to force a delivery or not.”

“Hate to see you in pain.”  Zoro reveals, eyes looking down apologetically.

Kuina and Mrs. Ronoa look elsewhere, providing the two with a moment’s privacy.

The hand on Zoro’s head slides to his cheek, Sanji beams and nods, “it’s going to be worth it.” He reminds, and the glint in his eyes outshines Zoro’s fears. “We’re soon gonna hold our baby, and we’re gonna look back at this night and laugh.”

 Zoro nods and mirrors his smile.

 

 

**Somewhere outside a grocery shop in town:**

The black goo spills from long, pointy fingernails, plops on the ground and reshapes into a featureless figure which parts with the man as soon as it’s formed.

The male clerk wearing a woolen hat with a name tag that reads Enel Braham behind the counter is soon attacked by the customer who proves he isn’t here for their wares. The clerk has fallen to the floor for a while, and, now, he wakes up, the light in his eyes fading, replaced by dead pupils that see nothing beyond chaos, death and blood.

Zenny retreats from the shop and lets his new turned victim pick a chainsaw from the shelf placed there for display, load it, and attack the rest of the clients with it.

Zenny stands tall by the sidewalk across the shop he just vacated, engrossed by the melodies of people screaming and blood specking on the windows.

 

**Back in Zoro’s house:**

“Alright, let’s put you back in the water.” Zoro heaves out, holding Sanji up by the armpits.

“I’m not some dumb fish.” Sanji scoffs, letting Zoro manhandle him into the tub anyway.

“Call Rob again, see if he’s close.” Mrs. Ronoa tells her daughter. “Zoro, I know you’ll be against this but maybe Chopper’s involvement can be of help.”

Zoro is already shaking his head, “Sanji is doing great,” he reasons, “We can do this.”

“Has he always planned a birth at home?”

“Mrs. Ronoa,” Sanji suddenly croaks out, “It’s true that I have magic, but it’s not like I go around hexing people if they ask something I don’t like.”

 She squirms and entwines her fingers together, “you’ll have to be patient with me, Sanji, werewolves and magic-users are not the best of allies.”

“Your son here disagrees.” Sanji gesticulates at Zoro with a lackadaisical hand.

“My son” –she interjects– “is blinded by sentiments.”

“ _Mother_.” Kuina whines, “That’s enough.”

“You’re incorrigible.” Zoro mutters, fingers pinching the bridge of his nose.

“No, no.” Sanji chuckles, “Let her be,” he tells them, “didn’t she say she was here to help? I quite need the motivation.”

“I’m willing to if you’re going to give my son an heir.” She admits, finally revealing her colors, “other than that, I’m not very interested.”

Zoro’s blood boils in his veins and it’s a second late until he realizes he’s gripped his mother’s elbow and bared his fangs at her, “My mate is going through excruciating pain, and you’re still shoving your condescending attitude down his throat. I’m ashamed. I thought you cared.” He seethes, “prove us where you stand or get out.”

“Where I stand is by your side, I want you to have an heir.”

Sanji lets out a soft noise between a whimper and a moan, slowly detaching himself from the unnecessary drama. If Mrs. Ronoa can’t accept him for who he really is, then whatever decisions she takes, whatever actions she makes, it will never be of his concern.

“Don’t forget to close the door on your way out.” Zoro tells her, now looking away from her.

“You can’t kick me out!” She exclaims.

Zoro ignores her and faces Kuina, face set in deep lines, “I smell blood. Take two of the pack and go investigate.” He crouches down by the tub again, rubbing Sanji’s upper-arm and resisting the urge to pain-drain him.

“Zoro,” Sanji whispers, loving the sensation of Zoro’s hand on his skin, comforting and supporting, “think you can give me a belly rub?”

Kuina tugs at her mother’s arm by the elbow, and although Mrs. Ronoa hesitates to give Sanji the satisfaction, she is soon pulled outside. The last glimpse she had the chance to catch was of Zoro situating himself behind Sanji inside the tub, placing lights kisses to his temple.

 

 

**Somewhere else downtown:**

Zenny and Abraham, newly reborn as monsters in human skin, tread through the streets, wreaking havoc.

Police sirens wail in the distance.

 

 

**Back in Zoro’s house:**

Sanji purrs, letting Zoro shoulder his head. “Your hands are magic.”

“Speaking of,” Zoro speaks softly into his mate’s ear, hands rubbing on the engorged belly in wide circular motion, “I can’t apologize for what’s just happened, because I know that sorry is not going to cut it. It was wrong of me to allow her in.”

Sanji shakes his head, “you did nothing wrong, and if there’s someone who should say sorry I know it’s not you.” He tells him, and then heaves a sigh, “it’s just, I don’t know, man, any other day, something like this would have made me furious, but going through all the crap I went through taught me that the world is bigger than my insecurities, and people like your mother –no offense– they really can’t affect me anymore.”

“So you’ve matured.” Zoro concludes, keeping the conversation going because it seems it’s taking Sanji’s mind off the pain.

“You can say that,” Sanji provides, “there’s still a lot to learn, spending time with Charlotte can feel like a whirlpool. There’s always an adventure to have or a monster to defeat, can’t compare to my life here though” –he cuts himself off when he groans but quickly refocuses– “Cosette, my ex, she was also an adventurer.”

Zoro swallows his lump; jealousy is not what Sanji needs to deal with at a time like this.

“What’s she like?”

Sanji snorts, “Fearless,” he says, a fond smile soon spreads on his plump lips. “She used to live in Wuhan, Chandia, but got exiled by the government five years ago.” He lets out a full-bodied sigh, “she worked as an anti-war activist, campaigned against the massacres against the minorities. She told me she was making a hit but soon got framed for crimes she didn’t commit, and instead of jail, she got exiled.” He scrubs a hand over his face to keep from reliving the sweet times he’d spent with her, “She’s kind-hearted and strong. She despises unjust people, and always aims to spread peace.”

“She sounds like an amazing person.”

“She is. I liked her a lot, you know.” Sanji nods, “if I didn’t get involved with any deities, I’d have married her.”

Zoro’s hands stop whatever they were ding, the breath almost knocked out of him and his stomach clenches.

“Those were different times, babe. I’m back to you now.” He assures –something he is certain he will have to do very often until Zoro is convinced. Now he tosses a hand to Zoro’s hair to pull on it, bringing his mouth closer so that when he looks to the side, his mouth can kiss Zoro’s with ease.

 

**In some nameless corner in the middle of town:**

“You are surrounded!” a police officer shouts through the speakers from behind the hood of his SUV, “drop your weapons!”

Zenny, Abraham, and the new monsters they’ve recruited are standing hunched, armed and covered in blood. They’re surrounded by several police vehicles and a few dozens of officers wielding their guns out.

“I repeat, drop your weapons!”

Zenny steps forward, alarming everyone, and the law men who aren’t surrounding the area, busy themselves with the safety of the other civilians, evacuating the neighborhood so no one can get hurt but the perpetrators. Zenny, disheveled and still pretty evil-looking, lifts two blood-smeared hands, which gets the marksmen firing and using his chest like a mark at the shooting range. The most bizarre thing about it, though, Zenny doesn’t bleed and the bullets bounce right back.

“What the hell!” the sergeant gapes, small eyes widening behind thick glasses.

Zenny parts his fingers and his lips, black slimy goo spills out like crude oil, flows down the concrete, reaching the tires and deflating them at mere contact.

“Fire!” He orders again, reloading his gun.

Zenny’s new monster gang fan out, jumping the police officers and slicing them with their weapons, and Zenny is thrilled watching the goo slide into the mouths of the fallen victims and turning them evil.

 

**Back in Zoro’s house:**

“Usopp and Frank, you two come with me, and the rest of you, keep an eye on the place.” Kuina instructs, now reeling around to face her mother who, by the looks of it, hasn’t shaken herself out of the shock, “and please stay out of Zoro’s way, mother, he’s heard enough from you and the two of them don’t need your badger.”

“You too, Kuina?”

“If Zoro and I are both having a problem with your attitude towards his mate, then that means you ought to change it.”

Mrs. Ronoa nibbles at her lower lip to keep from retorting.

“Alright,” Kuina says, “let’s head out.”

 


	12. Chapter 12

 

 

 

**At Law’s place:**

Law gets the call of the year right before his lips touch Robin’s. He scrambles up, Robin standing up with him, eyes wide and stance taut.

“What do you mean manslaughter?”

Robin almost trips back onto the sofa at the word –slaughter? This isn’t some grotesque H.H. Holmes saga revived with advised viewer discretion.

“Get Nic Robin too, we need all the help we can get.” Kuina’s voice sounds strained through the other end of the line, as though she’s jumping around with dumbbells in hands but she still needs to keep the phone on her ear, “We’ve got a dozen of spree killers going rampant, a lot of people have been hurt and the police are requiring backup.”

“We’re on it.” He tells her, now sharing a confirmative with his girlfriend.

“Wait, hey,” Robin stalls, “where’s Sanji?”

There’s a loud crash and someone screams in the background before Kuina speaks, “He’s safe, don’t worry.” She tells her, “but Ren finally decided to crawl out so he’s giving his parents a bit of a hard time.”

Robin’s lips part open at the news, but Law trips down to the sofa in his girlfriend’s stead.

“I still can’t believe this is actually happening.” He marvels, brown pupils blown away.

“Law!” Kuina berates, “get your shit together and come help out, we’ll deal with your mental breakdown later.”

Because, okay, other than rare male omega conceivers, no man can go parturient, but deities were involved in this, so Law should get his bearings together and live with the fact that his male childhood friend is in labor.

 

Law instructs his grandmother to stay inside, he basically puts her on lockdown before he and Robin soon leave the apartment, armed and ready, but she doesn’t need to know that.

 

**Somewhere Downtown:**

“Don’t let the gooey stuff touch you!” Usopp beseeches, face and parts of his body covered in things he doesn’t want to name, “it fucking sizzles!”

The streets were vacated safe only for the supernatural –Zenny’s monster army and Zoro’s pack, now joining in Law and Robin, who are also far from normal themselves. Cruisers overturned with thick smoke coming out of their hoods. Pieces of glass shattered to the tarred ground, crimson and black goo coating everything else. Kuina seizes the chance when Zenny, the man turned into molted soup, reshapes himself into normal to claw his face in an open challenge. She leaps rearward and crouches, her eyes beholding the action of the claw marks she’s caused mend together and return anew.

“He has regenerative powers, everyone, this might be bad news.”

“No offense but–” Robin crinkles her brows at the other woman “you _think?”_

“How do you actually harm someone who can’t be harmed?” Frank wonders, swiping a few punches at Abraham.

“You find their weakness.” Kuina replies, now facing Robin, “use your Gumiho powers, try grilling his ass.”

Robin shares a tense nod with her and lifts her two arms skyward, lips mouthing hummed incantations. She is too lost in her concentration that she doesn’t notice one of Zenny’s newly-turned minions sneaking up on her back, but that doesn’t include a trained hunter. Law catches the impending threat from the corner of his eyes, so he swiftly knifes the one villain he’s fighting and rushes to his girlfriend, her name on his tongue, shouted. When he realizes he is far and, by the time it’d take him to cross the distance, the ugly slime would have already finished Robin off, he takes out his gun from his built and shoots the transformed in the head. The man totters and Robin scurries away like a tetchy cat to finish her incantation.

Zenny parts his lips and lifts two slimy hands, shooting black oil from the orifices on his face, including his eyes. It oozes out and down to the surface of the car, melting the metal and covering the bodies of the officers who couldn’t stand a chance, and their bodies jerk and jolt. The pack watches with astonishment how the once-dead rise from the goo, eyes blank, nonetheless alive.

“Great,” Law huffs, “now we’re dealing with zombies.”

“You’re a fine one to talk.” Kuina smirks at him, eyes now switching to behold the predicament that is Zenny, “What about decapitation.”

“He’ll just put his body parts back together,” Usopp says on a sad shake of head, “guy’s a frigging Ninjago.”

She looks at Robin then, “when is she going to set the bastard on flames? I’m getting old here.”

As though prompted, Robin shoots a beam of fire to the direction of the gooey monsters, and it hits them but immediately evaporates into ambers.

“It’s no good,” Robin says through labored gasping, “all I have is tricks, nothing I summon is going to work if it’s not Sanji’s magic.”

“Well, tough!” Kuina grits out, “he is a little busy right now–” when she turns her head to look at those things wreaking havoc in town, she sucks in a gasp because Zenny’s face is right before hers.

“Kuina!” Law, along with the rest of the pack shout, alerted.

Kuina attempts to leap to the back again, she pulled it off the first time, but Zenny isn’t humoring anyone anymore as he wraps her with his goo, turning her world into complete darkness.

When she opens her eyes, her cousin’s meet hers. She tries to sit up but the goo has solidified on her body, keeping her now from moving. She scans her surroundings, realizing she can’t make anything out from the shadows paintings everything black.

“I should have known.” She tells him, now brining her eyes on his, “it takes a psychotic to come up with something like this.”

He shrugs in a condescending fashion and grins with lips pressed, “I call genius.”

“I call bullshit,” she counters, “people are dead because of you.”

“The love of my love is dead because of you.” He retorts, “We’re even.”

 

**Zoro’s Place:**

“I can’t –God! No, I can’t do this!” Sanji is doubling over inside the tub, nursing his belly as the movement of his guts alarms his pain sensors.

Zoro is still crouched by his side, secretly leaching just a bit of the pain while uttering hushed murmurs of sweet encouragements, “Yes, you can,” he says, planting a kiss to Sanji’s clammy temple, “it won’t last, J, just ride it out.”

“I want him out.” He sobs like a kid who’s just had his favorite toy snatched, “Zoro, please, I can’t, not anymore. It hurts so much!”

Zoro shifts closer, ducking to see his mate’s face that is scrunched in pain, and he rubs a hand on Sanji’s back, “I know it does, I know it hurts” –heck it’s not like the blood gushing out of Sanji’s slit isn’t standing like a proud telltale to assert that– “but you can’t stop midway, babe. Ren is also fighting, don’t dishearten him.”

Amidst the commotion, Zoro senses the pull of the fading moon on his wolf, hears the hoots of distant owls that bestir themselves for nocturnal meals. He even scents the dew of the night sky: There’s been a time leap.

Sanji curses and grits his teeth, and it shakes Zoro off of his internal scenarios of what might have gone down with the pack and Kuina. “Zoro,” Sanji suddenly croaks, his voice low and weary, “we have a problem.”

 

**Inside the gooey cacophony,**

“You think it’s fair to cause all that mayhem, all those deaths!” Kuina berates with implicit resolution, “if you have a problem with my brother, why don’t you solve it with him, why go after innocent people, turning them into monsters.”

Dracule lifts his index and swings it, “that’s where you’re wrong,” he tells her, sidestepping the cocoon of congealed black goo wrapping her upper body. “Ronoa Zoro settled in this town, made his own pack and set up shop. He started business and forged connections with people here. He basically managed to create his own territory with nobody’s help, so what’s the best way to crush him other than take away the empire he’s spent years trying to maintain.”

“If you go big, the consequences won’t be easy.”

A dark smirk flashes across his face and he nears her, pushing up the glasses on his nose, “you think there’s a next time?” he goads, “wrong, this time we’re not stopping until everyone is dead.”

Kuina gulps noisily.

“Do you know what espionage is, Kuina?” He wonders, “Do you have any idea how I know Sanji is delivering his pup right now, or how I know that he might die after the pup’s birth if Rob, the superhero doctor, doesn’t make it to town in time?”

Kuina stares at his lips, unable to retain any of the words.

“Do you understand now why I’m always one step ahead?”

And just like that, the puzzle pieces fall back together.

“Which one?” She demands, eyes glowing golden.

“The guy with a lisp,” he offers on a shrug, “been uncovering your secrets and reporting back to me for a while now. He’s really helpful.”

Luffy, that fucking asshole.

“What did you do to him? Did you have your psycho girlfriend enchant his mind, is that it?”

He smacks her across the cheek until it rings inside her ear, “Watch your mouth, Hancock is my mate.” He snarls but the scowl soon morphs into a proud smile, “She’s brilliant, she’s the one who actually came up with this plan,” he resumes the talking, “Last time she cursed Zoro, she managed to drive his mate away, but their bond proved to be a hassle ” –Kuina’s heart warms secretly at the revelation because damn straight their bond is stronger than a stupid enchantment– “so she picked an easy member of the pack instead to enchant, and it worked just fine. I don’t know why we never thought of that before, but, not to fret, it’s working out just fine now.”

Kuina grits her teeth, arms pushing against the solid goo to free her body, “You really enjoy hearing yourself talk, huh? But guess what, no matter what plots you scheme, you’ll always end up falling into the same rut.” She warns, “People like you don’t last, they either die a bloody death or go insane.”

He beams and crouches down to her eyelevel, “If I die” he starts, “I’m taking you down with me.”

**Fight location:**

Usopp and Frank, with Law and his girlfriend, have watched, with astonishment, how Zenny’s body dissolved into liters of black slime that soon submerged Kuina entirely, and how the grey sky turned starlit. In just a second, the day rolled into night and Kuina was no longer there.

 

**Ronoa Zoro’s place:**

Upon hearing the warning, Zoro’s entire focus is back on his mate, trying to locate the problem Sanji has just pinpointed. “What’s wrong?” he eventually asks when his mate keeps his head low and teeth gritted.

“It’s happening, Zoro.” He breathes out, “it’s fucking happening!”

Zoro is soon sliding into the tub again, sitting in front of his mate and ignoring how the water overflows onto the tiles. “Alright,” he soothes, “you don’t have to panic. This is basically what we’ve been waiting for, so, umm, just let it happen.”

Sanji shakes his head, letting out loud wheezes. “I do want him out, but” –he moans in pain– “how do you think I’d feel about my flesh getting torn open!”

“It won’t last, Sanji” Zoro appeases again, his hands on Sanji’s parted knees. “I’ll leach the pain away. So just do it.”

Sanji leans to the back again, head propped up by the rim of the tub. He spreads his knees wider and watches through slanted eyes how Zoro scoots closer between his legs, “Don’t complain to me about your nightmares later.”

A smile pulls at Zoro’s lips; his eyes get parachuted by saturated bangs, “wouldn’t count on it.”

Sanji quirks a pained smirk and huffs “bastard –” he is suddenly overtaken by the urge to push, and without waiting for some spoken order to instruct him on what to do, he finds himself pushing.

Doleful screams echo inside the bathroom, and it takes everything in Zoro’s power not to straight-out bolt out of the room. Seeing Sanji is so much pain –the black veins traveling up his forearms affirm that proclamation, it just never sits right with him.

 

Downstairs, Keimi and Luffy listen to the screams reverberating in the entire house, and they wince. Mrs. Ronoa paces in the hallway upstairs, hands twining together and untwining, undecided about what to do. On one hand, she wants to help. Having a grandchild is like a dream finally coming true because with her son’s lifestyle, she had stopped having hope for a lot of things, but Sanji managed to break the rule, giving his mate a child and the family an heir. But on the other hand, she can’t forgive the things Sanji made her son go through throughout his relocation. Zoro was miserable, even went rampant on his sanity, favoring his island of solitude. And Sanji never bothered. So she was just being honest back in the bathroom. She and Sanji can never see eye-to-eye, and he has to accept this little fact, all of them should.

Another scream ricochets, filled with pain and anguish.

Mrs. Ronoa hears her son hushing his mate with promises, and for a moment, she believes them. Soon they’re going to meet Iskren, hold him and love him. And it’s a pleasant thought.

 

“Is there something we can do to help?” Nami inquires of the other three left to guard the house with her. “Anything?”

“I’m afraid if we go in there we’ll just make it worse.” Keimi’s shoulders drop, but her boyfriend is soon wrapping his arms around her. “Hearing him and knowing he’s in so much pain” she lowers her head and sniffles, “I just… I can’t. It’s too much.”

“Oh, honey.” Vivi floats near her face for emotional support, “he’ll get through this, trust me. He’s been through worse, and he always came out of it.”

Keimi looks up at her with eyes filled with tears.

“Have more faith in him.”

They share a confirmatory nod and smile in the silence that gets intermittingly interrupted by anguished screams.

 

Mrs. Ronoa has listened in, and although she agrees because, okay, Sanji is like a damn cockroach, he made it out of the toughest of situations, she still holds grudges. What’s more interesting about this night other than a guy, who isn’t even an omega, giving birth to the heir, it’s the time leap that’s taken place just a few moments ago, moving them into the night which also hastened the process of the baby’s delivery. She doesn’t know what’s happening downtown but she trusts her older daughter to take care of it.

She finally stops pacing, stands by a door left slightly open. She untwines her fingers again and pushes the aforementioned door gently open, the interior is darkened but her Alpha and icy-blue eyes see everything; the crib, the stuffed animals and the wolf-shaped rug –must be the nursery. Her heart immediately warms up and all defiant thoughts of rivalry and upstanding pride reduce into care and worry.

Not long and she finds herself inside the bathroom, old eyes beholding the scene of her son pain-draining his mate who is withering in pain, wheezes cut off by tired wails.

“Move aside, son.” She tells Zoro, who pins her with a pensive look. “I am here to help, I promise. I will keep my mouth shut, and I won’t interfere. I just want to see my grandchild.”

The last blow throws the two mates off balance as they share a look, and then a nod, and soon Zoro is vacating the tub to crouch outside, his hand still on Sanji’s.

Mrs. Ronoa gets into the tub instead, even ignores the flushed cheeks of her son’s mate, and looks into his eyes after seating herself properly, “now, breathe, Sanji, and push.”

 

Luffy falls to the ground like a wall of breaks crumpling. He doesn’t stir, he doesn’t even give a warning beforehand, he just falls.

Keimi and Nami scurry to him, hands fussing over him to trace an injury or whatever that made Luffy face-plant to the floor without a sound. They sense the coldness that slowly spreads across his limbs, turning his skin blue.

“What the hell is happening?” Bart demands, hands balled by his sides, “he just dropped out cold.”

Keimi loops up from her crouch, “get me some blankets, hurry!” she faces the fainted man now, “gosh, he’s freezing.”

Nami works her bottom lip between her teeth, her hands rubbing up and down Luffy’s arms. “Luffy, come on, get a grip.”

Luffy, though, doesn’t get a grip; he gets a seizure out of the freaking blue. He starts trashing and convulsing as vigorous shocks wrack his body and all the other two Betas are left to do is gawk in fear and confusion.

“Move away from him!” Vivi shouts, “This is a work of witchery, might affect you too!”

“Witchery?” Exclaims Nami, and she even wants to protest and deny, but Luffy’s garbled noise highlights what’s been stated by a stuffed animal. “What’s it doing to him? Why is he seizing?”

Vivi hovers in their vicinity close enough to read the kind of witchery racking the young man’s body, and the odor of burnt skin and dried blood assist her attempt. “It can’t be…”

 

Sanji, as though electrocuted, spasms and shudders, tossing his head to the back and straightening his legs, locking his knees rigidly. His eyes snap open and stare at the condensed ceiling, and his hands clutch at the rim of the tub until the blood leaves his knuckles.

Mrs. Ronoa locks eyes with her son at the sudden change in demeanors in Sanji’s body –the awful signal that something is wrong, terribly wrong, going on.

“Hey,” Zoro intones, hand attempting to knead the flushed cheek, “Sanji, what’s wrong?”

“Don’t touch me,” Sanji grits out, “Luffy, shit, he’s dying.”

Zoro’s thick brows meet in a scowl, and he quickly scrambles to his feet, “a curse?”

Sanji shakes his head, mutters ‘if Ren could just wait a damn sec!’ before he switches to look up at his mate instead, “a binding spell,” he corrects, “Chopper knows how to reverse it, the bunny can do magic, summon him.”

“What about you?” Zoro seethes, “if I summon Chopper, I’ll have to leave your side.”

“Zoro, you fucking bastard,” Sanji grouches, “your pack needs you. It’s not some stupid figure of speech, Luffy is literally dying!” he hollers, “scram already!”

And Zoro is soon storming out like a super hero on call.

 

**Downtown:**

The four company fight off Zenny and his gang of Alien rejects. Kuina can hang on a little until they aren’t targeted from all corners by goo-spilling monsters. And before they even know it, half the town has been turned, and some of whom that aren’t fighting them, are heading towards the woods instead.

“Shit, this is bad!” Usopp strains out as he blocks a hit from some gooey guy, “they might be heading to the den!”

The other three perk up at the revelation; it’s not possible, they think, that that’s really what’s happening.

The turned townspeople head to the second Alpha of the Ronoa family, carrying their black and evil goo with them. And one of them has already managed to take down Kuina, so who says a bunch of them can’t take down the Alpha?

 

**Zoro’s place:**

“No, no way in hell!” Nami bellows, giving bone-breaking compressions to Luffy’s still chest, “No!”

Keimi falls to the floor, face pale and stained with tears, shaking her head.

“Come on, Lu!” Nami breathes into the said man’s mouth, only to resumes the compressions again, “don’t do this to me, please –” a hiccup betrays her voice, “please!” she sobs.

Keimi’s tears fall down like a torrent, and she palms her mouth to keep from letting out her snivels as she watches how the only thing that stirs Luffy’s body is Nami’s compressions –suddenly, a blinding beam of light hits Luffy’s chest and he jostles, sitting upright with his head thrown to the back. The flash of light doesn’t stop until Luffy sags to the floor again, but this time, the blue tint of his skin morphs into a healthier complexion.

“It was a binding spell,” Chopper’s gruff voice soars over the silence, “It seems Sanji was right.”

Nami and Keimi look from the Jackalope lookalike, who is perched by Zoro’s feet, and then back at Luffy, approaching him carefully. And they giggle hysterically when Luffy opens his eyes and groans at the seizures’ leftover.

“God!” Nami hovers over his face, lips parting into a genuine smile, “welcome back, you idiot.”

Keimi is soon doing the same, allowing her hands to wander over the man for comfort, the physical contact their pack relishes. “You gave us quite the scare.”

“Luffy,” Zoro calls and the guy is soon sitting up with the girls’ help, “if you are in no condition to fight, Chopper will take you somewhere else–” his large body faces the floor-to-ceiling windows behind, “We have company.”

 

 


	13. Chapter 13

 

 

“What is that?” Luffy enunciates every word. He doesn’t even dare to blink. He doesn’t want to blink. Beyond the glass of the large windows, darkened shapes swirl and reshape like they’re some type of animated liquefied aluminum, or black explosive diarrhea. Yes, that too.

 “Ectoplasm.” Chopper points out, “Someone must have revived it using some sort of ritual.”

Zoro looks away from the window to the magical rabbit, “Is this kind of witchery familiar to you?”

Chopper nods, “Same energy I felt when you lads lost your memories.”

Zoro faces the windows again, “It’s Dracule Mia again.”

Nami helps Luffy up, keeping careful eyes on the windows, “I thought Sanji wiped them off the face of the planet.”

Zoro shakes his head, “He zapped them to the arctic.”

“What do we do now?” Keimi stands before her boyfriend, every muscle in her body stiff.

“Kei, lead the boys away –”

“No way,” Luffy cuts him off, “I’m staying. I want to fight, too.”

Zoro beholds him with an appraising look before nodding, now facing the cutie pie of the pack, “Alright, take him out of harm’s way.” He instructs, “Head back to where Sanji is and stand guard.”

“What about the fight?” Keimi asks.

“Mother’s hands are full, so she will need someone to watch her back.” He tells her over his shoulder, “If you stay by their side, I won’t be distracted here.”

She shares a look with Nami.

“Can I count on you?”

Keimi hardens her expression and nods, “best of luck everyone.” She said, now pulling her boyfriend by the arm and leading him towards the staircase.

 

“Since they managed to bypass the others, it means the pack has been beaten.” Zoro notes out to the three left with him, including Chopper. “Until we figure out what happened, we’ll try to hold them off.”

“I don’t think you’ll succeed.” Chopper concludes. “Didn’t you hear me when I said Theurgy was involved?”

“We need to act –”

Suddenly, all those gooey shapes outside get warped inside. Before Zoro and his pack could make head or tail of what has just transpired, the black slime envelops every one of them like a wave on rocks. Last thing Zoro sees are his two pack members reaching out to him with their hands, faces horrified.

Is that it?

They didn’t even get a chance to warm up.

It vaguely reminded him of one of those summer storms that come pouring out of the blue: this loss.

 

Sanji throws his head to the back again, angry veins popping across his temples. “At this rate…”

“Don’t tense up,” Mrs. Ronoa chides, “It’ll hinder the delivery.”

“I don’t care about that!” Sanji roars at her, “Something is wrong. Zoro… I can’t feel him.”

Mrs. Ronoa frowns and, yeah, that’s where Zoro got it, “What do you mean?”

“I don’t have time to explain,” he shakes his head, sweat-coated bangs sway to and fro. “I need you to take me downstairs. I have to see for myself.”

“But in your condition…”

“Hurry up.” He grits out.

“Sanji,” Keimi suddenly barges into the bathroom, her boyfriend following closely behind, “You can’t leave. Dracule’s men are here. It’s not very safe outside.”

He ignores her completely as he supports himself by the rim of the tub and attempts to stand up, but he doesn’t go far because the wobble of his knees brings him down.

“Zoro told me to protect all of you,” Keimi recounts, face scowling with such a brusque demand. “I can’t allow you to leave.” She wonders, fleetingly, if it was the smartest idea to order the Alpha’s mate around with the oldest Alpha present in the scene.

“My mate is in danger,” he tells her through a wince, “what makes you think I’d sit back and watch per view how he ceases to exist?”

Bart then twines his fingers with Keimi’s, “Don’t interfere.”

“I could say the same to you.” She counters.

“I mean don’t interfere between him and his boyfriend.” He corrects himself, a hint of a blush taking over his face despite the tetchy edge in his tone.

Mrs. Ronoa helps Sanji up and she soon has a beige bathrobe wrapped around him.

“I need you three to stay here, understand?”

They remain silent.

“I mean it,” he emphasizes, and it’s not only one person scowling in reproach, it’s several. “This type of witchery is very strong, and only someone as evil as Hancock can pull it off.”

“Do you know how to undo it?” Mrs. Ronoa says as she helps him out of the tub, paying no attention to the water spilling out on the tiles.

“I think so, yeah.” He nods tentatively, “but if you’re there, I won’t be able to use the full extent of my power. You must stay.”

“We can help.” Keimi gushes.

“No, you can’t.” Sanji says simply, now adjusting the bathrobe around his body, especially around his belly. “You don’t know any magic, and your claws can’t exactly defeat Theurgy-based stunts.”

 

Zoro opens his eyes blearily. He hears the murmur of faint voices, talking in a whisper. He follows them and finally finds Kuina and his other two pack members glued to eerie-looking walls by solidified slime.

“You finally came to.”

Zoro’s eyes aim the source of the aggravating voice, finding Dracule standing by his left.

“You” he breathes out, “finally crawled out of your hellhole, like a cockroach.”

Dracule smirks and looks at Kuina, “Aren’t you two brother and sister!”

 Zoro rolls his eyes tiredly and inspects the place. Dirty wallpaper coming off the molded walls and dusty floor plank coated with scattered layers of black slime. “I see that you changed airs.”

“Fascinating, isn’t it?” Dracule gives the room another onceover, “I picked the wallpaper.”

“Excellent taste.” Zoro scoffs.

 

Sanji holds his pregnant bump from the bottom with his two hands, and toils his way to downstairs, substances he doesn’t want to name leaking down his thighs. “Ren, please hold on for me.” He beseeches, “Zoro might be in danger and I’m probably the only one who can stop Hancock –” he stops midsentence when he actually _sees_ the first floor of the house, covered in black goo. He approaches it, careful and light steps taking him closer to the indistinct shapes swathed in uncanny liquid. The novel sensation which follows reminds him of the depths of depression he felt last year after the nasty break-up listening to Low’s Slowcore beats, 1994’s I Could Live in Hope; total darkness. “Binding Ectoplasm…?”

Charlotte told him about this type of witchery before. How much energy it requires and what side effects it might cause to its caster. What’s more, he remembers about the spell she confided in him that can relinquish the incantation. Problem is he needs someone else in order to undo the whole thing. He remembers his senses catching the presence of Chopper soon after Zoro exited the bathroom. So he’s here, he just got washed over by the evil goo.

 

Dracule walks a little to the side, revealing Chopper’s small figure also immobilized to the wall by hard goo.

“You know what I’m going to do?” Dracule wonders, his hand slowly raking through Zoro’s hair. “I will torment you before I take you out of your misery.”

“A fan of mine, aren’t you?” Zoro grumbles in derision as his eyes wander about the interior, hoping for a way out because he doesn’t know what would come of Sanji if the fire of enthusiasm to torture Zoro eats Dracule alive. He knows he left his mother and his beta back to protect his mate, but how is he supposed to know if the slime didn’t swallow them as well.

The hand in his hair grips a fistful of strands, “Torment.” He snipes it with a maniacal glint in his icy-blue eyes, the betraying tale of the fact that Dracule might have murdered someone to be an Alpha, someone like his father. “Until you beg for mercy.”

Zoro realizes he can’t fend him off for too long, but he sure as hell can stall and buy the ones, whom he’s praying didn’t get enveloped in slime, some time. “Let the others leave,” he offers, “and then you can torment me to your heart’s content.”

“I need an audience.” Dracule says, managing to sound stoic, “nobody’s leaving.”

“Sick son of a bitch” Zoro grits out in a mumble but the other hears it.

Dracule sneers in response, flicks out his claws and thrusts them into Zoro’s shoulder. The latter stifles in his holler, attempts to anyway, buta small whimper gets out and Kuina perks up, nervous and scared. So does the rest of the pack.

“Zoro!” Nami shrieks.

“Quiet!” Dracule berates her, and she falls silent in an instant. “None of that screaming and yelling, or I’ll speed up the process.” Saying so, he pushes his claws deeper and Zoro continues to squirm and groan in pain. “Oh, this is great,” Dracule almost moans like he’s having an orgasm, “you finally being put in your place.”

Zoro tries to free himself from the hardened substance, he twists and wiggles, but none of it comes down.

“Don’t waste your energy,” Dracule advises on a flippant, one-shouldered shrug. “The ritual used to keep this hard as steel is very powerful. A lowly werewolf such as you won’t be able to break free.”

Zoro growls, low and dangerous.

“What also makes this more fascinating is the time change.” Dracule elaborates, his claws slowly pulling out, “time here passes really quickly. For example, if your beautiful mate doesn’t save you in the next hour, you will have spent ten days at my place.”

Luffy makes a weird noise of surprise, “I always thought you were a lost case,” he starts, “but this, man, it definitely takes the cake.”

In spite of looking offended, Dracule actually smirks proudly to himself. “Genius, isn’t it?”

“And sick,” Kuina fills out, “and inhumane.”

“Funny,” Dracule reels only his head to her direction, “it’s like you’re describing your own family.”

Chopper inspects the anomalous place with his eyes glowing yellow. He knows they were sucked into whatever that giant pond of goo was, and the thing about time change wasn’t a bluff. Every second that passes is crucial. He knows in order to undo the ritual they will need Sanji’s blood. His own magic is ineffective to break the spell. He hangs his hopes on the Alpha’s mate, and although he knows the Mage is in no shape to fight, especially with his pup fighting his way out, he also knows that without Sanji’s help, they’d all rot away in this cell.

Dracule wrenches his claws from where they’d been buried, blood splutters everywhere like a damn Champaign. “This is just a little price to pay, Zoro.” He says, now plunging those claws into the man’s thigh. Zoro tries his best not to give his psycho cousin the satisfaction of seeing him sympathizing with the pain. Infuriated, Dracule pulls Zoro’s hair to the back, forcing just a wince from him. “Come on, scream for me!”

Zoro spits blood and saliva at his face instead.

Dracule is speechless for a scary beat, and then his curled lips smirk. “Fine,” he drones, “have it your way.” Saying so, he twists his claws inside Zoro’s thigh, tearing the flesh and the tendons. Blood oozes out like a dam had burst.

Kuina shuts her eyes, tears threatening to fall. Nami and Luffy actually whimper. Since they’re pack, and since Zoro is their Alpha, they can practically _feel_ physical agonizing pain; the pain of seeing their Alpha being tormented when they can’t do a thing to help is like losing a limb.

 

Sanji examines the nature of the slime, whether it’s harmful or not. He feels Ren squirming inside him, wanting to get out already. For a precious moment, he debates if he should seal the opening so Ren wouldn’t feel the need to get out anymore. While it might affect his body, it’ll certainly give him space to think. He eventually decides not to. He concentrates on the slime for now, focuses on rescuing his mate and the pack.

He bites on the top of his thumb until blood spills out, and he draws two circular shapes on the palm of his other hand. He mumbles a spell and smacks his two palms together. Radiant light beams from his hands, and then he taps them on the surface of the goo.

 

Bright light emerges from an area on the molded walls, streaming in like a sun flare. Dracule pauses what he’s doing, his hand half buried in Zoro’s thigh. The rest watches with rapt how Sanji strides in with a little totter in his walk. His eyes meet Zoro’s and he finally sees the mess his mate is in.

Zoro, although relieved, he is scared now of what Dracule might do to them. This place is obviously the core of his strength.

“Oh, the Mage!” Dracule gushes, “Right in time to watch how I cut your mate from limb to –”

“Actually,” Sanji interjects, scratching his temple, “I’m not here for Zoro.”

The pack, Kuina and Zoro make loud noises that fall between gasps and snarls. Dracule himself looks puzzled.

Sanji glances around and finds Chopper at the side, relieved, he glances at Zoro, “Hang in there.” Before the rest could even fathom the meaning, Sanji vanishes from sight, reappears again by Chopper’s side.

“Hey,” Dracule yanks his claws from Zoro’s thigh and leapfrogs to Sanji and Chopper’s direction. “Hold it!”

Sanji places his hand on Chopper’s shoulder and the two disappear in a heartbeat.

Chopper and Sanji reappear again outside the hardened goo shroud, and they’re a little surprised to see Mrs. Ronoa and the others waiting close by. He scrambles down to the floor, but thanks to Mrs. Ronoa, his fall is more graceful.

“I think I can help Chopper undo the coating,” he tells them on a barely contained groan, “but once that is taken care of, you need to take care of the rest.”

“We’ll do.” The others tell him.

Sanji instructs Chopper of the spell they need to perform in order to break the gooey coating, and the reindeer nods affirmatively –not giving him lip for the first time ever. But as expected, Ren’s delivery can’t be altered anymore, and Sanji barely manages to finish the spell when he arches off the floor.

“From whence they came, return them now, vanish the words, vanish the powers.” He and Chopper chant in unison.

The coating slowly evaporates into dark tasteless and odorless smoke that soars up to the ceiling, and vanishes. Everyone who was caught inside of it is back, unscathed. Except for Zoro who managed to somehow get Dracule’s claws marks in his thigh, and blood on his shoulder from a recently healed wound.

The fighting resumes.

Sanji clutches at his pregnant belly and whimpers, “I so can’t hold this off.”

His voice attracts Zoro’s attention, and the man is soon looking away from Dracule to scurry off to his mate’s side. Sanji knows he can’t give birth in this situation, which is why he prepared another spell earlier just in case, the spell is surely going teleport him somewhere else –somewhere safe. As Zoro walks into his field, Dracule launched himself at him to hinder his advance. The two get accidently caught up in Sanji’s spell, and they also get teleported to wherever Sanji was aiming to take Mrs. Ronoa, Zoro and himself.

Dracule cracks his eyes open. He finds that they’re in a field of wildflowers. He whips his head around at the first noise he hears after Sanji cried, finding the man leaning his back on the bole of a large old tree, with Mrs. Ronoa kneeling between his parted legs.

“Don’t even think about it.” Zoro warns from the side.

Dracule spins his head to him, “what, are you going to stop me?”

“Do you even have to ask?” Zoro marvels, scowling.

Dracule cracks his neck as the transformation happens. Zoro is soon also turning. They stand before each other, wails of wind whooshing like a twister eating away a forest. They flick their claws out and launch themselves at one another.

 

“Oh my!” Mrs. Ronoa sounds filled with amazement, “I can see his head!”

Sanji looks up at her through bleary eyes, and the delighted face, which he’s never seen her donning before, gifts him with more spirit to push. God, getting the head out is the worst part, and it isn’t fair that he’s the one who is birthing Ren. Zoro should take part in this as well.

 

Zoro knows his pack and sister, and everyone who can fight, they’re doing their best. He is glad Sanji was quick to get them out of the hardened goo, and he’s even happier to know that Chopper is back there backing everyone up, just being useful for once in his life. So there aren’t any distractions here to take his mind off this fight. Well, there’s Sanji, but the guy’s strong. Besides, his mother is with him. She’s an Alpha, she can protect them both.

He and Dracule exchange heavy blows and jabs. Dracule gets more gashes across his body because, last time Zoro checked, he was the one who drank up Sanji’s magical blood, and he was the one who got bigger, faster and stronger. His pointy, deadly tail comes out and swings about, bashing the ground until dust flies off.  His longer hair waves smoothly in a dance, and then his ears grow pointier. His claws and fangs spring a few more millimeters, sharper and lethal.

As Dracule beholds the ruby-red eyes and the scaled body –the transformation, Zoro wastes no time in landing another attack.

 

Sanji focuses mainly on casting Ren out of him. He follows Mrs. Ronoa’s coaching, appreciating the fact that he doesn’t have to go through this alone like he always thought he would. The idea of Ren growing loved by a lot of people is so heartwarming, and he wants that for his baby. He wants him to have a family, and friends. He knows he might not make it out of this because Rob is nowhere to be seen and none of the Alpha can magick, but at least he is now sure that Ren will be loved.

“Sanji!” Mrs. Ronoa yelps, “A few more pushes now and it’ll be over! You’re doing a great job, just hang in there!”

He nods wearily at her. Pale face glistered with sweat, and hair soaked in it.

Although he doesn’t know if he can go on, he will try.

He owes it to Ren, and he owes it to Zoro as well.

 

When it looked like Zoro was winning, the witch Hancock appeared dressed in all black.

“Took you long enough,” Dracule tells her on a smirk that reveals the blood on his teeth. “I was getting my ass kicked here.”

Hancock huffs at the revelation, and steps closer to the center. “Zoro,” she starts, that sing-song intonation in her voice giving him the creeps. “We meet again.”

“Not the best of reunions, I must say.” He tells her, is voice thick. He isn’t even used to speaking in this form, and it sure marks the early stages of something extraordinary which Sanji helped create. “Did you leave a potion concocting itself back home?”

She snickers.

“What’re you doing here?” He cuts to the chase.

“Lending my man a hand.” She answers.

“By killing people?” Zoro scoffs again, “woman, you’re dependable.”

“He thinks so, too.” She ushers to Dracule, “Did he tell you that all this was orchestrated by me?”

“You two are really proud, upstanding citizens.” He shakes his head sadly, “I bet murder scheming is your pillow talk. Only sick people like you feel honored getting their patent on a mass murder occurrence like this one.”

“Whoa, careful there, cousin,” Dracule’s chuckle falls between an awkward sound and an impressed noise, “you get quite chatty when you’re all righteous.”

Zoro’s crimson eyes glow, and soon he leaps their way. Dracule doesn’t move away, so Hancock initiates her own attack. She lifts her hands up, hands palmed out in the air as a ball of lightning strikes in Zoro’s direction. He is quick to dodge though. When he lands and crouches, he glares heatedly at Dracule for his cowardly act, treating the woman like a shield.

“Don’t look at me like that.” He shrugs, “You have magic in your blood. How was I supposed to go on fighting knowing I had no chance?” he said, “This is more fair.”

 

Sanji digs his nails into the soil, and drags them. His tears stream down again, replacing the ones that dried over his cheeks.

“I can’t…” he sobs, tiredly. “I really can’t.”

“Don’t say that,” Mrs. Ronoa’s voice relents, “you can’t give up now.”

Funny thing is, he wants to.

His head lolls from side to side, “No,” he snivels, “this is too much, I seriously can’t.”

Mrs. Ronoa watches with a sliver of consolation how Sanji lowers his head and cries until his shoulders shake. “It’s too painful…” he sobs as more tears fall from his eyes, thicker than rain drops. “It hurts so much.”

She drops her shoulder, tension finally leaving her muscles alone. “Sanji,” she starts, “more than an heir, I want to see Zoro happy.” She said, “You weren’t here so you didn’t see. He was devastated beyond repair, but you…” she cups his cheek and she senses him shiver, and the worst thing about the entire thing are the ugly, black veins travelling up her arm. “You brought my son back. You saved him.”

He slowly looks up, almond-shaped eyes heavy with unshed tears.

She parts her lips into a tender smile, kind wrinkles round her eyes. “This pain won’t stay.”

Sanji’s grimace morphs into hard lines set across his face. He fists those handful of dirt in his hands, and without any warnings, he pushes again.

 

Zoro is actually having a hard time getting past Hancock to strike Dracule again. He is stronger, but with the two of them, they almost compensate the lacking element of strength fighting Zoro solo. Not that it matters though, he is capable of seeing through her attacks, so they’re futile. He just hopes she’ll tire soon and exhaust her powers, and then he’ll be able to finish her, along with Dracule.

“You know how I got this strong?” Hancock commences a conversation, and Zoro reads right through her attempt to buy time. “I actually drank some of your mate’s blood the time we kidnapped him. Ah, right. You don’t remember that, because, if I recall right, you kicked him out that night.”

Zoro clenches his fists by his sides, the claws digging into skin drawing out blood.

“Everything was your fault,” she tilts her head in that know-it-all manner, “right, honey?”

“I’m with you on that one.” Her ‘honey’ chirps.

Zoro grits his teeth, wills himself to forget about those memories. He knows they won’t leave him, but just for now, he needs to focus on protecting his mate. He crouches like a predator, his beautiful long hair slides on his gray, enamel-like skin. In one jump, he dashes to Dracule, managing to blast him in the face before Hancock could do anything. She soon constricts his movements by witchery-inspired shackles, and Dracule sits up, nose crooked and bloody.

“Now, aren’t you a tough cookie to crack.” He harrumphs and spits blood to the side, “that was quite unexpected, to be frank.”

A cry…

A shrieking cry reverberates across the wildflower field, alive and angry. All motions stop. All sounds and voices thin out from the background as the cry replaces the silence.

Zoro’s world stops, too.

He slowly turns around. Wide, ruby-red eyes fall on Sanji’s bleary yet hopeful ones. He sees his mother holding their naked newborn to her chest, his tiny hands flailing. He looks at Sanji again, the bewilderment plummeting to elation.   

 

The realization that he’s just successfully delivered Ren –his child. The baby he held inside of him is now seeing the world for the first time.

“It’s our baby” Sanji laugh-cries, now looking away from Zoro to Ren, “our beautiful little miracle.”

 

A burst of every emotion courses inside Zoro and finally explodes. He cups the lower half of his face –long claws protruding, still lethal. The look in his eyes tenderizes at the sight, and soon tears cram along his lids –the lids of an allegedly heartless hybrid. Those emotions surge around like fireworks, until there is only one feeling left: Love.

Pure, unadulterated love, for his mate and for their child…

“I’m happy.” The breathy whisper of Sanji’s voice brings his attention back to his mate. He finds him slumped against the trunk of the tree, his face pale and pasty, and his lips almost colorless. The wet locks of his hair clinging to his forehead. His limbs slumped, and the bottom half of his body covered in blood, “So happy, Zoro.”

Zoro’s tender look roughens, “Sanji…”

As another wind whooshes, it feels like it’s taking the last words with it to scatter them somewhere else. Zoro and the rest watch intently how Sanji’s eye-pupils sink under his lids and he slowly closes his eyes, and his head lolls to one side.

The sluggish flutter of Sanji’s heartbeats is too worrisome.

Zoro growls, “He’s not breathing!”

Mrs. Ronoa keeps Ren held close to her bosom as she crouches to Sanji’s closed-eye-level. She taps at his cheeks a few times, calling his name gently. He doesn’t even stir. Zoro attempts to launch himself towards their direction but Hancock and Dracule cut his path.

“Not so fast.” Dracule sing-songs, “you need to finish up here first, Zoro.”

Zoro tips his head forward and snarls, deep, guttural snarls. He suddenly falls to his knees and hands, and hacks. The scaled shapes in his back protrude and extend, and he snorts and snarls. Hancock and Dracule step a little rearward, staying alert. Zoro positions himself on his knees and throws his head to the back, now letting out a dreary howl. The scales part away on his shoulder blades as two pointy shapes jut out, expanding to wings bigger the size of spruce trees. His haunches arch and become werewolf like.

“Was this also part of your plan?” Dracule demands of Hancock.

“He’s drank so much of Sanji’s blood,” she shakes her head, horrified. “Just how strong did he get?”

Zoro slowly stands up, and they all feel even the consistency of the air changing. Becoming thicker, harder to breathe. Darkness swallows him, and he becomes part of the night sky. Aside from his glowing crimson eyes, not much of him could be seen in the dark.

“By the forces of the –” Hancock attempts to cast a spell but Zoro is behind her in a flash, his claws digging into her chest, then holding her heart in his palm.

Dracule’s eyes widen, some of the blood has splashed on him and he feels like he can’t even wipe his face clean. The heart in Zoro’s hand pulses and Dracule falls to his knees. “Please, don’t…”

Zoro’s tail whips around, and then, the pointier part of it dawdles before Dracule’s eyes.

“She’s my mate, Zoro.” He cries, “In my revenge, I never attempted to murder your mate.”

Zoro’s fist on the pulsing heart clenches, not strong enough to burst it open.

“Please!” Dracule sobs, “Zoro –” then it comes to him “she can help Sanji!”

Zoro cocks his head.

“She knows spells that can stop the blood loss!” He beseeches, “but you need to let go. Besides, Sanji might go into shock if we don’t move now.”

Zoro slowly draws his hand out, returning the heart to its comfort zone. He steps aside as Dracule holds Hancock to him. After getting their bearings together, the two of them lift up and walk towards Sanji, Zoro following silently behind.

 

Mrs. Ronoa has used her claws to cut the umbilical cord, so she thinks it is safe now to wrap Ren in her coat. The baby is crying like an angry baby dolphin. She jokes to herself about taking Ren to Sea World and see if he can communicate with the fish, after all, Sanji can communicate with the wolves. She smiles warmly as she hugs the baby closer to her chest.

Hancock is still performing the spell on Sanji, and it’s been a few minutes now but he isn’t waking up. Zoro nudges Sanji’s side with his own forehead, willing him to open his eyes. It takes Mrs. Ronoa back to the court room on that unlucky day when they almost executed Sanji. It’s a miracle the young man didn’t hold a grudge. Otherwise, with that amount of magic he has, he’d have turned all of them into dust. Not the point. Sanji isn’t waking up, and that is pretty worrisome on its own.

“Why is it taking so long?” She demands of the witch.

Hancock is crouched between Sanji’s parted legs, some of his blood getting on her. “I –I don’t know.” She said in a tremulous voice, “he isn’t responding.”

Dracule and Mrs. Ronoa’s eyes meet, and he lowers his head like someone who’s been caught stealing. She taps at Ren’s back and rocks herself gently, coaxing him to stop, but the baby is giving the impression that Sanji’s state is doing something to him as well.

“Zoro.” Mrs. Ronoa calls, firmly. “Remember in the court room that day? You made him drink your blood and he woke up, why don’t you try that again?”

All the way, she ignores how her son is now sporting wings and looking bigger and scarier.

Zoro lowers his head.

“I managed to close the slits,” Hancock gushes, “but he’s already lost so much blood. A blood transfusion is going to take too much time, and he might go into shock while I collect the things needed.”

Zoro takes one step closer to Hancock and she recoils, her big eyes widening in fear. He ignores her, and he even ignores the way Dracule scurries to her and scoops her up to her feet. Zoro pulls Sanji by the collar and lays him to the ground on his back.

“What are you doing, son?”

No reply.

Zoro mounts Sanji, and he tips his head to the back again like he wants to howl, but he doesn’t. He brings one long, sharp claw to the inside of his mouth and pops a small ball of meat open. Of course, the other three don’t see it; they only see the blood that soon spills out from the corner of his lips. Zoro leans towards Sanji’s face, opens his mouth to push it on Sanji’s.

 

 

 “Why am I here?”

The scales and shackles on its reptile body jingle, “It is time.”

“Time for what?” Sanji demands of the Imugi.

“To pass the seal to your newborn.” The Imugi replies.

“Why would I do that to my son?” Sanji snorts.

“We had a deal, lot.” Ryu reminds, his voice making the entire darkened room shake. “It is time to keep your part of it.”

“I can’t pass the seal to Ren” Sanji insists, “He’s just a baby!”

“So were you,” The Imugi reasons, “so were others before you.”

“Well, my son isn’t going to go through that.” Sanji shrugs, “want a vessel? Stick with mine. Otherwise, you can wander the earth bodiless eternally.”

“So you go back on your promise.” The Imugi hums, “This won’t end well for you, lot.”

“What, are you threatening me?” Sanji challenges with narrowed eyes.

The Imugi’s scales start to glow, a beautiful shade of gray and flame-blue. “If I can’t have it,” he roars, “neither can you.”

 

Zoro sits up after his mate started to squirm. Without a warning, a beam of grey and fire-blue light gushes from Sanji’s chest, landing on Ren. Mrs. Ronoa tightens her hold on Ren, but the baby’s body slowly dissolves into million specks of beautiful light. Sanji arches off the ground after the light Ren turned into darts back to his chest, finally disappearing inside of him.

Mrs. Ronoa quickly opens the coat in her arms, finding no trace of Ren.

“What the hell just happened?” Dracule growls, “Where’s the little one?”

Their eyes land on Zoro’s crimson ones, and instead of intimidation and danger, they only find confusion in them.

Zoro looks from his surroundings to Sanji, and then back at his surroundings. As though if he did that enough, Ren will pop out of somewhere and Sanji will wake up. Sadly, neither of that happens…

 

Like a film reel clicking to an abrupt stop, the images come to an end and his watery, unbelieving eyes blink away to adjust to his surroundings. Sanji takes in the bustle of people and the thready melodies of old jazz, the wide transom separating the door from the fanlight of the café shop where he is supposed to meet with Mia. He suddenly realizes his right hand is hovering on the handle of the aforementioned door, not pressing nor pulling back, and he recoils like he’s just been bitten by a snake.

As though piquing on the jolt of his heart, Mia inside lifts up from his chair. His faculties are hardly up to speed but Sanji senses tension in the offing and snaps his head sideways for an alternative –for a way out. If what he’s just seen was a vision, then he had better scram, right fucking now. He isn’t going to allow Kuina to catch him red-handed: chatting away with the guy who wouldn’t stop rubbing Zoro the wrong way. He isn’t going to allow her to tattle on him.

Including the things he’s seen, the teleporting spell pops up way more efficient than the portal, and he uses it in a moment of frenzy. He flicks his eyes to the interior of the café and finds Mia skulking towards him with a menace that raises his hackles, but, thankfully, the spell works in the second and desperate attempt and takes him somewhere else.

He finds himself standing next to Zoro inside the latter’s house at the same spot he was searching him up in his vision. This is where he is supposed to search him up for the phone and find the incoming calls from Mia. This is where he is supposed to kick Sanji out instead of talking about the Blood Moon that’s going to happen tomorrow night. The man arches an incredulous brow, silently demanding an explanation which Sanji isn’t ready to offer nor has the confidence to.

“You’re by yourself.” It isn’t a question. Sanji can see nobody but his mate. “Great.”

“Yeah, Sanji.” The other approaches him swiftly. “I’m alone. What’s going on?”

Sanji wets his lips and does an exaggerated pantomime of a punch on the shoulder that it makes Zoro step aside. “I don’t have time to explain,” he grits out, and clasps Zoro by the collar. “How’s your English?”

Zoro cocks his head in bare confusion, “um, well. It’s well.” He mutters against himself, “Hey, are you okay?”

Said man gives Zoro a slight shove and rolls up the sleeves of his Henley after removing the jacket, and the beanie Keimi knitted for him for his birthday. “Look, I just need you to translate what I tell you.” He starts, doing odd hand gestures that soon result in a rift of light midair. “I’ll explain everything later, I promise. But right now? We’ve got work to do.”

Zoro observes the phenomenon of the tear of light widening like theatre drapes opening, and then the image of a familiar face focuses. He peers into the aperture as comprehension finally settles in.

“Ronoa Zoro,” the dark-skinned, green-eyed man drones with a mix of amusement and confusion, “to what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hunter,” he said in greeting, “you seem well.”

Sanji steps in for their attention, “Yeah, yeah.” He grouses, completely uncharmed, “translate this, Zoro, and make sure he gets it.”

“What?”

“I need him to give me Plotinus' Theurgy, and I need him to do it now.” Sanji’s eyes gleam with unbending determination. “I know nothing comes for free, that’s why I’m willing to tell them where they can find the anomalies they’re recruiting.”

“The Theurgy of Plotinus,” Hunter hums with a thoughtful silence, and then he brightens up freakishly. “You must be the Last Mage, for you to conjure up this kind of flawless mirror without knowing where I am, and even knowing that we’re recruiting packs of different species. I must say, you really do live up to your reputation.”

Plotinus' Theurgy, or, as Zoro remembers, Disciples of Magic, is a heavily chaptered tome. Nobody knows where it came from but since the spells are henosis-based –same as Plotinus’ mystical teaching, the book was named Plotinus’ Theurgy. Zoro has absolutely no idea how Sanji came to know about it or where to find it. The book has been lost for more than five decades after a heated argument amongst the five rulers of the States. It seems the book has been in the possession of the pack in Colorado, well that ought to give him leverage.

“Cut the crap,” Sanji bellows, “I need the book.”

“I do not know why you assume I have it –”

Zoro was still in the process of translating when Sanji suddenly interjected, “I know you have it, Hunter. I saw it my vision.” He hisses, his fists balling by his sides. “Look, a lot of people are going to die if you don’t lend it to me. I need to extract a spell to protect this town. I will give it back soon as I set up a barrier.”

Zoro regarded the exchange with a deep frown, feeling his heart clench. Visions, death and barriers, just what in the world is Sanji going on about? How did he know about Hunter and how to video call him through a freaking tear in the air like some magical mirror on a twin dimension?

He can’t take it as his bearings finally come undone, “Sanji,” he starts, voice stoic despite his inner debacles. “What’s going on with you?”

Instead of a furious glare, Sanji shoots him a commiserating look and soon faces Hunter, choosing to ignore clearing out his mate’s confusion. “The were-fox,” he tells Hunter whose brows twitch at the words, “we all know how rare those are, what if I show you where to find one?”

“Would you, now?”

“You have to give me the book first though,” he tacks on quickly, “the were-fox isn’t going to go anywhere, but I’m afraid it’s being maltreated and hunted as we speak.”

“Where can I find him?”

Sanji goads. “The book first”

Hunter rolls his jaw in a poor attempt to screen his vexation, and then smirks despite himself. “Your mate is a real tease,” he comments, twitchy and awkward. “Alright,” he huffs, and through that breath it feels like he’s finally showing his defeat. “I’ll give you the book. If you don’t disclose the location of the were-fox, I’ll know where to find you.”

Zoro perks up at that with his eyes glinting red, “Did you just _threaten_ my mate?”

Hunter wets his tongue fervently and smiles –a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “I would never.” He bows his head a little, “I do not wish to make an enemy of –”

“Save it.” Zoro glowers as his anger pulses, “As I recall, Plotinus' Theurgy doesn’t belong to you for you to be extorting my mate.” He juts his chin, openly challenging, “I’ve been postponing my flight to the States for a while but maybe it’s about time I changed that.”

Hunter’s eyes go wide at the dreaded scenario that must be going through is head, “Please,” he breathes through gritted teeth, “There’s no need to make it a formal issue. I overstepped my boundaries and I regret that. I will gladly lend you the book.” Saying so, he rummages through the drawers of the desk he’s sitting at and slips out the book.

Sanji makes a ‘throw it over’ motion with his hands and Hunter follows the order after a diffident pause. “Don’t pester me about returning it,” he runs a hand over the thick cover of the tome, slowly swiveling to leave the projection of Hunter behind. “I’ll give it back when I’m thoroughly done with it.”

“Very well, then.” Hunter sighs warily, like he hates the idea of parting with the book. “Be safe.” As in please do your best to return the book in one piece.

 

“You still can’t tell me what’s going on?” Zoro is leaching himself to Sanji’s side, his body taut like a pulled bowstring.

Sanji has parted the book in half and was now skimming through it. He ignores the way his heart clenches at the reminder that strikes him with that question; the things he saw in his vision are still replaying in his head and he feels like he wants to tear his flesh off his bones. He rakes a hand through his hair and furtively glances back up to meet his furious eyes. “Let’s list up the four elements of life,” he starts, heedful of the head cock Zoro does at the way he’s just been shunned. “There is water, air and fire.”

Zoro provides despite himself “Earth, too.”

“Now, what are the four forces of life?”

Zoro doesn’t answer right away, he rolls his eyes at the way he’s being played right into his mate’s hand and decides to humor him. If Sanji is so adamant and stubborn, he knows he’ll fail miserably at getting anything out of him. “Are we talking about soulful entities?”

Sanji frowns and nods, “yeah,” he said, like that’s an idea he wasn’t considering but he doesn’t want to give Zoro the satisfaction. “You can say that.”

“Well,” Zoro tongues his lips, “there are humans, monsters, magic practitioners and animals.”

Sanji lets out a snort and his eyes gleam with triumph. “That makes perfect sense.” He said, closing the book with a snap. “Come on,” he ushers with an eager tilt of head, “let’s save our future.”

Zoro finds himself scuffling after Sanji with a barely stifled chuckle, and it isn’t until the hard clank of wood and the beeping sound of his car outside that Zoro realizes Sanji is aiming the driver’s side.

“You’re not going to drive my car.”

Sanji teeters to a stop and placates him, “Fine,” he hisses, tossing the keys to the other who captures them one-handedly. “Are you gonna drive or do you want ten minutes with your Mercedes here first.”

“Where’re we going?”

“Just get in the car first, I’ll tell you on the way.”

 

“Mia is in town,” Sanji finally breaks it down to his mate during their drive on the dirt road that usually leads to the driveway. “He isn’t vacationing either; he’s here because of the Blood Moon.”

Zoro tightens his left hand on the wheel while the other stays on his lap. “I know.” He says distractedly, but quickly corrects his wording, “that he’s here. I don’t know what the Blood Moon has to do with it.”

Sanji hacks a disbelieving scoff, “Everything, Zoro.” Saying so, he takes his phone out of his jeans and dials Robin’s number. “He’s been calling to meet for almost a week now and although I kept turning him down, he just wasn’t stopping.”

Zoro brings his free hand to scratch at his stubble.

“Then, today, I decided to meet him, thoroughly intent on ripping into him, until I had a vision.” He blows a shaky sigh, now tapping on ‘call’. “He’s a real piece of work, I must say.”

Zoro rolls his tongue under one of his eyeteeth and then peeks fleetingly at his mate. “I know you were supposed to meet him at a café today, Kuina was onto you.”

Sanji flicks his eyes to him, and Zoro mimics his action, expecting a disenchanted, reproaching glare for spying on him. He is taken aback at the trusting smile Sanji flings his way. Then Robin’s voice breaks the silence from the other end of the line and Zoro returns his gaze to the road.

“Robin,” he says snidely, “Shut up and listen. Look what you need to do. I’m gonna give you a spell, okay? I want you to take animal blood, any kind, and head to the eastern border of town. Wait there till I call you again.” He instructs and doesn’t even worry about her say in this as he requests she puts Law on the phone. ““Hey, buddy,” he starts, “I need you to copy the spell I’m gonna give you and head to the northern border of town. Arm yourself, you hear me? Mia’s pack is keeping an eye on us.”

At that, Zoro whips his head to him, furrow deepening.

“Yeah, sure, you can.” Sanji continues after waving a lazy hand to dismiss whatever Law has just said, “Tell Robiin to be careful, too. I wish you best of luck.” He flings the gray-cased contraption to the dashboard and slumps on the vinyl. He shuffles just a bit in his seat so that he is half-facing Zoro. “I need you to call your sister, tell her to head to the Western border, and tell her to take the pack with her.”

“What’re you up to?”

Sanji inhales a deep, very deep breath. When he lets it out, it’s shaky and his chest deflates. “Since I was born,” he starts, “I’ve always had headaches, and sometimes my mark acts up too. It made me miserable, especially with no cure out there. I’ve never even related the pain to danger-sensors” –he lifts a stalling hand– “don’t get me wrong, having danger radar is fucking cool. It’s just, it gets too painful sometimes.” He watches keenly how Zoro multitasks: driving the car, typing a text for his sister and listening to Sanji’s inane rant. “More than that, the painful my mark is, the more evil whatever skulking in the darkness is. And before I met you, my arm used to hurt so much. So long as the town is… _naked”_ It was, in Sanji’s dictionary, the most fitting word to which no other descriptors could do more justice. “Evil will continue crawling in.”

“But that’s always been the case, what do you think is going to change now?”

“I’m going to set up a barrier around this town.” Sanji deadpans.

Zoro drinks in the eyes gleaming with conviction, a smirk slowly flourishing across his lips. He quickly returns his gaze to the road again, noticing they’re approaching the southern border, and his hand goes to Sanji’s lap to knead his thigh.

Images from the vision flash in Sanji’s head and he forces his eyes shut in an attempt to fend them off. He was becoming a drama queen, a real you-hurt-my-feeling and I’m-too-emotional drama queen; good thing it was all just a vision or else twenty six years of discipline would have been for nothing. His hands wrap around Zoro’s wrist and his head drops a little. He is going to need decades to recount the vision to his partner, and it isn’t going to be pretty, but he owes it to the man. A hand untwines from Zoro’s and slides to his belly; flat and muscled even. A wave of sorrow washes over him at the loss. Even though he didn’t get the chance to see _Ren_ –that was supposed to be his name– he feels the pain of loss festering in his chest. Zoro maybe smells his mate’s sadness wafting inside the vehicle, and next thing he is clenching his hold on Sanji’s thigh.

 

“Okay,” Sanji starts. They’ve reached their destination and he is now standing beside Zoro next to a bolder, the sky hasn’t completely darkened but the fading dusk hues are warranting its advance. “Everyone needs to be stationed now where I’ve appointed them to; we can initiate the spell.”

“Kuina just called, said she sent Frank and Nami after Law. She is with the rest at the location.” Zoro reports with his head rotating sideways to locate any possible dangers, “what about Robin, did she find any animals?”

Sanji squats on the floor and spreads the book on the woods’ flour. “We just need animal blood, doesn’t matter if she brings no animals.” He says with the tip of his thumb between his teeth. “The problem is my blood.”

Zoro faces him at last, “what about it?”

Sanji looks up, the faint locks of his hair whoosh back and forth. “Remember when I tried to repel your psycho fiancée’s attack?” –He sneers at the way Zoro rolls his eyes at the reminder– “I cut my hand, the one with the mark, but only few drops came out.”

“It’s still blood.”

“Yeah, but in order to perform this kind of powerful spell, I’m gonna need more. There isn’t more where that came from.”

“Try it now, and you don’t draw out enough blood, we’ll think of something.”

Sanji tells the other to cut his hand by his claws, which the werewolf does, but only few droplets spill out from the open wound, “Any other ideas?”

Zoro winces, “you’re not gonna like it.”

“Does it include me getting naked?”

“No, but it includes lots of pain.”

“Kinky. Cool,” Sanji claps once and lifts up, “I don’t mind a little pain to get this done, so long as I don’t get stripped naked.”

Zoro’s eyes do this stupid pull on Sanji’s, as though initiating his own spell to enamor Sanji. “I will get you stripped naked. I’m just not going to do it here, or now.”

Sanji’s tongue snakes out a little without his consent, only peaking between his teeth. He strides into his mate’s space, the action smooth as though perfected after days, months of repetition. His hands go to Zoro’s belt loop, pulling him closer by the waist. They hold each other’s hands, twine fingers and smile dopily. Their foreheads land on one another and burning eyes stare, heatedly and disarmingly.

Zoro’s smile drops and a frown replaces it, now ducking to crook of Sanji’s neck. The latter untwines their fingers and guides his hands to the Alpha’s shoulders, then wrapping behind his neck. Zoro’s lips ghost over the skin, barely touching. He feels how Sanji tips his head to the side and how he presses more into him. He fucking loves it. He licks the area he bit before, just to numb it a little so it isn’t very painful. He’d planned to bite his arm to draw blood, but this isn’t so bad every once in a while.

He parts his lips, and his fangs, protruding sharply, sink into the skin. Sanji whimpers into his ear and tightens his hold around Zoro’s neck, but doesn’t run. Zoro doesn’t drink the blood that oozes out, despite the fact that he wants to. He keeps it in his mouth, and finally pulls his fangs out, leaving deep holes the shape of his fangs on the fair skin. Sanji pulls away with a wince marring his forehead, and he swiftly cups his bruised neck. His shy eyes peek up at his Alpha.

“I’ll draw the symbol,” he starts, now returning to his earlier spot. “Pour what’s in your mouth on it.”

 

There was something in the prolonged and dogged silence that followed after they’d casted the spell. It made Sanji unsettled and his heart uneasy. It wasn’t an every-day phenomenon to forge a double-layered spherical shape with a texture shining like a mirror, and have the entire town enclosed with it after a momentary roaring power flare; it soon makes his uneasiness transient when Zoro’s large hand lands on his nape, framing his tensed muscles.

“You did it.” He says on a proud smile, glancing at his mate in some confidence that this would help him believe that he feels no remorse whatsoever trusting him with the safety of the townspeople.

Mischievous almond-shaped eyes drink in the unaffectedness of the pride in Zoro’s, “You’re wrong,” he said, “you also took part in setting up the barrier, the pack, and my friends. We all did.”

Zoro shows that he agrees by nodding. His hand falls by his side as he faces skyward, “What was that flare though?”

Sanji mimics his posture, relishing the glittering tremors traveling across the endless sky as though the barrier has a conscience of its own or it’s being electrified. “A banishing spell that I threw in on the spot, it’s like a cleansing spell that rids of all evil. I hope it ejected Mia and his pack.”

“That was smart.” Zoro hums, “being impulsive has its perks, it seems.”

“Sure it does” he agrees almost immediately, “I mean wasn’t it impulsive when we fucked in the woods the other day?”

Zoro lets out a hearty, deep laugh that makes the sensitive parts in Sanji’s body ache, “if you’re suggesting a redo, then you aren’t as smart as I gave you credit for.”

He said it before, he’ll say it again. Law is a fucking imbecile. Of all moments to pick, he decides to interrupt now as his ID flashes on Sanji’s phone screen. He doesn’t know how or when yet, but he’ll definitely choke him someday for always interrupting their moments.

“If you praise my genius, I _might_ , at a push, forgive you for preventing two rounds of possibly mind-blowing outdoor sex.” He hears a snort and he isn’t sure which one did it first, Zoro or Law.

“So does this mean my retirement won’t get unexpected interruptions?”

“It means, my dear friend, that when I get pinned down and thrust into, Zoro won’t have to pull out in the middle because some freaking coarse-faced, sexually deviant creature decides to have a go at us” which is a yes if Law cares to analyze. He isn’t the only one getting interrupted in his life, okay? He doesn’t know about real life struggles; how unsatisfied Zoro’s dick pulling out in the middle makes him feel because a flying lizard is taunting the town. Show some respect, man!

“You’re the worst.” Law groans.

Sanji grins, “You’re welcome, bud.”

Just as he’s hoping to get on to the smashing part with Zoro to relieve some of the tension he’s lived tonight and has left him not only wobbly in the knees, but with most likely gray hairs in his temples; Zoro’s phone rings, taking the smashing on his hopes instead. He disconnects the call despite whatever Law told him about Frank and Nami wanting to express their happiness about today’s happening, and strides boldly into Zoro’s space, circling his middle with his arms.

The things he saw in his vision didn’t really happen, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t affect him somehow. He’s been taking this life for granted, and he didn’t stop to think that if he isn’t vigilant enough, strong enough, someday, something or someone might take it away from him. Even thinking about it scares him. He doesn’t want Zoro and their pack and his friends taken from him. He doesn’t want his memories stolen, or his heart broken.

He may still need to follow on the success of this spell, and see to it that nothing remotely evil has remained inside like cancer, but he can’t, for the life of him, let go of Zoro.

“If it’s Kuina, tell her to check on the part-timer with the pack, he works for Mia.”

Zoro flops a hand on the back of Sanji’s head, “that should be my job.”

Sanji acknowledges that, but somehow, he decides to ignore it, nuzzling the man’s chest instead. “If you think, for a second, that I’m letting you go, you’re royally mistaken.”

“You heard him,” Zoro speaks into the phone, “I leave it to you, then.”

Sanji squeezes the other like a pillow, purring into the fabric of his shirt. “Take me home, Zoro. Let’s make love until sunrise.”

“What kind of person would I be if I ignored my mate’s needs?” He jokes, now masterfully hooking his arms under Sanji’s back and knees to carry him bridal style.

Sanji links his arms around Zoro’s shoulders and buries his face in his neck as they make for the car, “a horrible person, alright?” He jokes back, with a twinge of a whine in his voice, “The Werewolf Community will mock the o great Alpha, Ronoa Zoro, for pulling out twice in a row without him or his mate climaxing even once.”

“Well,” Zoro starts, a corner of his lips curling up into a deep smirk, “I shall reverse that to The Werewolf Community will praise the o great Alpha, Ronoa Zoro, for not pulling out the entire night and giving himself and his mate the best of orgasms.”

Instead of laughing, Sanji shudders with anticipation and his body heats up. He presses up more against Zoro and moans into his skin, “Hurry, Zoro, I might explode in my pants, man.”

He will make sure Sanji will walk funny tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've finally finished this arc! Well, that's the plot twist, guys! *Usopp pose* What do you think, genius, isn't it? 
> 
> Let me just remind you that they will have a baby later, but, for now, I'd like to go back to the mood I set in mid season one and have fun with it. If you have any suggestions or requests, please leave them down below in the comment section.  
> I still need to come up with a state name for Colorado but just pretend it isn't there  
> I'm probably going to take another break after this, but I would like to hear your thoughts about the way I ended this arc, or what you expect for our dear Zosan from now on.


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